Biannual Writing Retreat
Next upcoming: Fall of 2008
| 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 Autumn, provide up to three days of uninterrupted seclusion and allow the participants time to write.
Our first retreat was held in Maryland on the Appalachian Trail outside of Harper's Ferry, WV, and was a memorable event that several writers have remarked they would never forget; indeed, one of the stories crafted at that first retreat was subsequently sold to Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine. It is worth noting that the retreats, while fun, are treated by the participants as what they are: professional opportunities for serious writers to get some serious writing done.
Currently our writing retreats take place a lot closer to home in Keystone State Park, a 1200-acre park in Derry Township, Westmoreland County, three miles from the intersection of SR 981 and US 22 an hour's drive east of Pittsburgh, where we rent cabins for a three-day weekend of writing. Each cabin sleeps six people in two bedrooms, one with a double 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 bring your own kitchen, bath and bedding necessities such as soap, plates, sheets, et cetera.)
These retreats cost less than $50 per person for 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 manual 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.
Who can attend?
Anyone can attend. We charge a non-profit fee to cover the operating costs but 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.
When is the next retreat?
The next retreat is scheduled for the Fall of 2008.
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.
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.
Maybe, but 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, plus a short trail that leads to an abandoned beaver pond, crosses over an old beaver dam and leads into a wetland meadow. Another trail runs through plantations of red, white and table-mountain pine trees, and yet 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?
No, but that's what we are there for. We tend to write during the day, and in the evenings most of us knock off for the day and have dinner, then gather 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 include towel, soap and toiletries; bedding, pillow and blanket; your own food and drink; something to write on and most importantly of all, your enthusiasm. One attendee sought his muse by bringing a kayak which he practiced in on the lake. 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 downpour 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 for the past six months.
This sounds intriguing. Who do I contact about going?
Send an e-mail to the Retreat Coordinator Bill Moran. He can fill you in on all of the details.
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Group created by Diane Turnshek
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