Biannual Writing Retreat
Spring (May) & Fall (November)
| Map to the Park | Roadmap to the cabins |
Website Designed by Kassandra Siegel
Twice a year WorD conducts a three-day Writing Retreat in which local area writers isolate themselves with other writers to work on writing projects away from friends, family, the internet and all of the other myriad distractions that keep us from writing. The two annual retreats, one in the Spring and the other in the Fall, provide up to three days of uninterrupted seclusion and allow the participants time to write.
Currently they take place in Keystone State Park, 35 miles due east of Downtown Pittsburgh. Keystone is a 1200-acre park in Derry Township, Westmoreland County, three miles from the intersection of SR 981 and US 22, where we rent cabins for a three-day weekend of writing. Each cabin sleeps six people in two bedrooms, one with a single large bed and another with two sets of bunk beds. Each cabin has a modern bathroom with shower; kitchen with stove, refrigerator and microwave; and outside is a picnic table and fire ring with grill. (You have to bring your own kitchen, bath and bedding necessities such as soap, plates, sheets, et cetera.)
The cost is $75 per person, which covers all three days; participants provide their own food and do their own cooking. Each writer brings the writing implement of his choice, and writes on it during the three days we are on the retreat, be it a laptop computer, a typewriter or a pad of paper and a pencil. For those of you bringing laptops, be warned that there is no internet access at the park. ALSO NOTE: electrical outlets are limited, and you may be trying to sit somewhere across the room from the nearest source of electricity. An extension cord and a power strip can do wonders for making your life a whole lot easier.
Who can attend?
Attendance is open to all writers in the Pittsburgh area who are interested in taking time out of their busy schedules to write fiction in a secluded atmosphere surrounded by no one else but their fellow writers.
How much does it cost?
We charge a non-profit fee of $75 per person to cover the operating costs. This covers your cost of admission and sleeping space in one of the cabins for the entire three day retreat, but you will be responsible for providing your own meals. Be aware that if you like to cook, this is a great time to show off. Also be aware that if your cooking skills are not that great, the cabin smoke detectors do NOT have hush buttons. Please do not ask how we know this fact.
When is the next retreat?
The next one is the weekend of April 30 - May 2, 2010.
What if I go, but I don't want to write?
Don't bother to come then. While we place no restrictions on how much or what you should be writing, this retreat is purely for serious writers who want to write. If you insist on coming with no intention of writing anything, you aren't going to find us very welcoming under the circumstances. This is not a vacation in the woods; it is a working writing retreat.
Sounds boring. Why should I even go?
Because it is an opportunity to get away from the world and spend a few days with absolutely nothing on the schedule but your own writing. You get up when you want, eat when you want, and write when you want without worrying about anything other than what you're going to write. As most writers would tell you, opportunities like that are not easy to come by. Besides, you'll be communing not only with your own muse but with other writers as well.
But we could do that in my mom's basement.
Well, Keystone State Park is 1,200 acres of forest and rural meadows surrounding Keystone Lake, with six miles of walking/hiking trails that meander through wetlands and an upland forest of mixed conifers and mature hardwoods, with a 2-mile loop around the lake on park roads and walkways. There is a short trail that leads out to an abandoned beaver pond, crosses over the old beaver dam and leads into a wetland meadow. A different trail runs through plantations of red, white and table-mountain pine trees, and another offers a challenging walk starting with a fairly steep climb that winds through hardwoods to ridgetop conifers. If your muse deserts you and you need to get out of the cabin, there are a lot of places to go looking for inspiration.
So all you do is write?
Well, that's what we are there for. We write during the day, and in the evenings most of us knock off for the day and have dinner, then do some more writing, or else gather with the other writers to shoot the breeze, talk writing, or game together (we're a very social group). Some people spend the day hunched over their computers, others walk the forest with a notepad and do their writing in some isolated spot, surrounded by no one but the trees and the hawks.
What should I bring?
The basics including a towel, soap and toiletries; some form of pajamas (we're a mixed group of girls and boys), sheets, pillow and blanket (the beds are just bare mattresses); your own food and drink; something to write on and most importantly of all, your enthusiasm. BE AWARE: we tend to go in the Spring and the Fall, so check the weather and dress accordingly. It's one thing to take a long walk through the woods for inspiration; it's another to trudge back a mile through 45-degree cold in a driving rain when you have neither hat nor umbrella. Also, if you bring something that plays music (and who doesn't?) PLEASE bring headphones! No one wants to hear your punk rock collection when they are busy trying to craft a tender heartfelt ending to that story they've been stuck on for the past six months.
This sounds intriguing. Who do I contact about going?
The Spring Retreat Coordinator is Bill Moran. Drop him an e-mail and he can point you in the right direction regarding your questions.
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