Several dozen people participated in these weekends in pre-COVID times, and they were always fun and productive! Now that we have vaccine protections and life is getting back to normal, I am bringing these back!
If you are working on a project, there are two things you could probably use: Lots of concentrated writing time and a little social time with writers. That’s what a 10,000 Words Writing Weekend is all about. You’ll get many hours of concentrated writing time along with other writers. The fact that we are all there tends to keep us focused. Breaks at meal times give us social connections.
And by the way, people who stay in their creative zone for the writing times this weekend almost always get their ten thousand words!
Here is the next opportunity!
Date: October 14-16, 2022
Place: Lake Owen Pines in the beautiful Chequamegon Forest area near Cable, Wi.
What: A bed and a writing table at this cabin on Lake Owen. (Note that I open a third bedroom for the writing weekends. Also, if you have been here before, I now have queen size beds instead of bunks, and all the beds and writing spaces are provided to writers who attend. I live offsite now in a separate cabin, and will come to the event for the times shown below.)
Price: $165 per person for the weekend, or $300 for a couple sharing a bed and bedroom. Due to dietary restrictions for so many people, please bring your own food. We’ll prepare it in the shared community kitchen.
Small group: There are usually three writers plus myself, or if there is a couple, there might be 4 or 5 writers.
How to Register
Contact me to make your reservation. I will take payment in full, usually via Venmo or Zelle. Once I have your payment, your spot is reserved!
Email: sigwrite@gmail.com
Phone or Text: 651-523-7201
Register soon as there are only three rooms!
Schedule
People arrive Friday after 5 PM. Depending on arrival times, we may hold an optional writing session from 7-9 that night. Usually, there is time to meet and greet each other as well.
Sat 6-8 AM: Quiet and/or writing time.
Sat 8-9 AM: Breakfast
Sat 9 AM to Noon: Timed writing time with a 15 minute break.
Sat Noon to 2: Lunch, social, outdoors, walks.
Sat 2-5 PM: Timed writing time with a 15 minute break.
Sat 5-7 PM: Dinner and social.
Sat 7-9 PM: Timed writing time with a 10 minute break.
Sun 6-8 AM: Quiet and/or writing time.
Sun 8-9 AM: Breakfast
Sun 9 AM to Noon: Timed writing time with a 15 minute break.
Sun Noon to 1: Lunch, social, outdoors, walks.
Sun 1-4 PM: Timed writing time with a 15 minute break.
NOTE: Some people prefer to leave after the morning writing period on Sunday.
Bring your favorite writing tools—usually a laptop, journal, and pen is all folks need.
I know what project I am bringing—a performance poetry piece on my wife’s journey with cancer. What will you be working on?
Here are some recent pieces of mine
A piece on climate change:
We Are Out of Time on Climate: How We Do Things Must Change
It’s all about electricity and business.
And here is a poem just coming out for your reading pleasure:
Swampbeast
There are times in life
when you make an error.
Old wounds drive bad choices.
The wounds rise up from the swamp-bottom;
a giant hairy arm — the wound itself —
lifts you from the water’s edge
and takes you under the surface.
When there, you swear you will drown.
But the beast behind the arm
has its own way. It purifies you,
cures the soul’s ailments,
turns you into a different creature —
one more capable of love, more able
to behold beauty, and, having neared death,
fearful of absolutely nothing.
This is how it is with us.
I have been to the swamp bottom.
The creature has had its way.
It looked like I lost my heart,
but he stole away my fear.
Now, that giant hairy arm
takes me back to the world —
from submergence to light. Every
color vibrant, every sound subtle,
very smile bright, every light
shining joy into our world.
Such an experience happens once
in a lifetime… if you are lucky.
The swamp beast comes to heal,
and the healing is intense.
My love never stopped;
it grew new roots to the center
of the earth. Here. Please take my hand.
Let’s let the error go. Let’s walk
forward together into a new future.
— Anthony Signorelli (2020)
I hope to see you at the writing weekend!
Otherwise…
Write On!
Tony