A small snippet from David Whyte’s keynote address about why readers need to live a courageous life: “Writer’s block has to do with the attempt to keep a conversation going long beyond its shelf life.” As an antidote, David suggested the discipline of asking ourselves “beautiful questions,” questions that enable us to have a conversation […]
The Virtual Vacation Mexico: David Whyte Read More »
The most fun thing about coming to a writer’s conference is not what happens in the officially scheduled sessions, but what happens in the cracks between sessions. There’s the fun of exploring San Miguel, but there’s also the conversations, connections and adventures that happen with fellow participants over meals, while getting lost, while shopping, or
The Virtual Vacation Mexico: Between The Cracks Read More »
The San Miguel Writer’s conference, in its ninth year, attracts writers from all over Mexico, the United States, Canada, and this year included participants from England, Australia and Morocco. This year, there are 300 full conference attendees, and some of the keynote speakers draw as many as 900 people. There are workshops on everything from
The Virtual Vacation Mexico: The New World Of Publishing Read More »
This morning I headed out in search of a pedicure before the conference begins. I was wearing open toed shoes and my toes look like crap. I stripped off the old polish before I left California, but now they have red ghost residue on them and look tawdry. I’m not particularly vain, but I think
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Today, Susan needed to go to Dolores Hidalgo, a small town a little more than an hour from San Miguel, to replace her ceramic water dispenser and its wobbly wooden stand. I went along for the ride and got a Mexican history lesson in the bargain. The first Mexican Revolution, Susan told me in the
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I always love the sweet promise of setting out on a trip before dawn. But it wasn’t until the end of a long day of travel, when I boarded the shuttle that would take me to Susan’s house, that it really hit me that I was in Mexico. The moment I walked out of the
The Virtual Vacation Mexico: Arrival Read More »
I dropped by Mom’s place today to remind her (for the sixth time) that I’ll be leaving to go to Mexico tomorrow. I’m heading back to teach at the San Miguel Writer’s Conference for the 4th year in a row, and I wanted to be sure that Mom would be okay while I was gone.
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I’m sitting on one of the old, soft couches in the lobby area of Newbold House, in the midst of all of my belongings. My soft black duffel bag is packed to the brim. I’m surrounded by a variety of outerwear since I don’t know what today’s weather will bring. To my right, my backpack
Virtual Vacation: Homeward Bound, Day 18 Read More »
We have entered the final days of our retreat. There is talk of taxis to the airport, last minute gifts, the loved ones we left behind, and the things we will be facing back home. People are letting in the reality that we will soon be saying goodbye to Scotland, to Newbold House, and to
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The basic schedule of this retreat, (on the days we aren’t heading out on a major outing) is writing group in the morning, free time all afternoon between lunch and dinner, and writing class in the evening. Open afternoons are important—they give people time to digest, to integrate, to spend time alone, to enjoy new
Virtual Vacation: Life At Newbold: Living In Community, Day 15 Read More »
(Dear Readers: This is another high-density post with lots of photos. You may need to let it load for a while before you come back and read it–Laura). Today was one of the “Seeing Scotland” days on our trip. Our first stop was Clava Cairns, a Bronze Age, 4000-year-old archeological site with burial cairns and
Virtual Vacation: Macbeth and High Tea, Day 14 Read More »
Every morning at 7:35 AM, there is meditation up in the sanctuary at Newbold House. It’s for the residents of the house, but as guests, we are all invited. After the meditation is a half hour of Taize singing—devotional singing from around the world, sung in four-part harmony. I showed up for meditation and singing
Virtual Vacation, Angels In Our Midst, Day 13 Read More »
(Note to readers: This post has a LOT of pictures. Let it load for a while and then come back to read it.) Since I knew we were scheduled to go on an outing today—to the Nairn Highland Games—I gave this homework at the end of writing class this morning: “Find out something specific about
Virtual Vacation: Viking in a Kilt, Day 12 Read More »
This morning in writing group, I gave some instruction in close observation and then sent everyone out into the garden in silence. I asked them to choose one square foot of nature, something they found beautiful (a flower, a kale plant, a turned bed in the garden), and to sit in front of it, observing
Virtual Vacation, Learning to See, Learning to Listen, Day 11 Read More »
The Findhorn Foundation describes itself as, “a spiritual community, ecovillage and international center for holistic education,” Their mission is to “help unfold a new human consciousness and create a positive and sustainable future.” Elly, who led our opening ceremony, took us on our tour of Findhorn last night. It was a pleasant evening with a
Virtual Vacation: The Magic of Findhorn, The Magic of The Pub, Day 10 Read More »
