Therefore I’m able to wish one Happy New Year every day till the very last day of the first month. I do believe that’s how it works though I really don’t know what the protocol is. But regardless, Happy New Year!!
Are you as excited as I am for our first writers’ retreat come January’s end?
My God, am I excited. Never been more excited in my life.
First thought upon waking, last thought before sleep.
All workshops, just like all our activities; field trips, hikes, spoken word night, are optional. However, we want you to be a part of it all. The Writers’ Retreat of San Buenas is here to inspire you. Take in the entire experience.
Our first guest instructor Will Viharo has described his workshops and I’m looking forward to attending every single one.
My workshops are simple and designed for a single purpose, -to write.
Athletes must train their minds and bodies through constant practice.
Writing is no different.
My workshops feature in-class writing exercises and techniques that’ll encourage daily writing, or what I like to call, daily writer workouts. It’s a muscle and a skill that needs to be flexed and used daily. That’s what my workshops and most people whom I’ve taught these techniques have later told they too now do them every day, usually first thing in the morning.
That said, my workshops do require tools: one composition book, (I prefer college-ruled but it doesn’t matter,) ball-points pens, (or any pens you like to use to write. Hemingway wrote everything in pencil first. That’s a lot of wood and lead.) index cards, (yes, index cards.) And lastly, strictly optional, a copy of The Tangier Dairies by John Hopkins.
The ‘tools’ are required for my workshop but the book, a journal written by a great and painfully underrated expatriate writer is simply for your pleasure. I will be reading from sections of that book during my workshops. It’ll inspire you to write, to keep a journal and to travel. It changed my life 100fold, and it inspired me to come to Costa Rica in the first place where I wrote a second novel. I’m certain this book will inspire you as well.
Thank you for your time. Thanks for reading this blog and I will see you January 29th, or at one of our future retreats. And it’s going to be awesome. <
