NATURE AND DESIRE: A WORKSHOP FOR POETS & CURIOUS PROSE WRITERS, WITH DIANA WHITEY

May 25th, 10-1pm, in-person at Word House, Marlboro, VT

Tuition: $100

1 full BIPOC scholarship available

SIGN UP HERE

CLASS DESCRIPTION:

Desire is a force that can spark creative inspiration, propel our writing forward, and rivet our readers. So how can we find new ways to articulate desire in our work? For centuries, poets have turned to nature as a rich source of writing about desire. In this half-day workshop, we’ll mine the natural world for images and language that embody desire in all its forms– not just hunger for a beloved, but longing— for connection, for transformation, for youth, for self-love, for a just world… We’ll start the day by exploring poems by writers who draw on nature to add texture, intensity, and emotional depth to their work; then we’ll use their lines as prompts to spark our own writing. In a supportive atmosphere, we’ll share our work and receive affirming feedback from the group. There will be time to savor the natural beauty, woods, and wildflowers surrounding Word House. You’ll leave with a cache of new ideas to sustain your momentum.

Diana Whitney writes across genres with a focus on feminism, motherhood, and desire. She is the editor of the bestselling anthology You Don’t Have to Be Everything: Poems for Girls Becoming Themselves, winner of the Claudia Lewis Award, and the author of two books of poems. Her first collection, Wanting It, won the Rubery Book Award in poetry. Her second, Dark Beds, was released in 2023 by June Road Press. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Glamour, the Kenyon Review, Crab Orchard Review, and many more. Diana was the longtime poetry critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, where she featured women and LGBTQ+ voices in her column. A lifelong athlete and ambivalent gardener, she lives in Brattleboro, VT with her family and works as an editor and writing coach. Find out more: www.diana-whitney.com

JUNE WRITING RETREAT: JUNE 22ND & 23RD

JUNE 22 & 23RD, Saturday, 9 AM to Sunday, 3 PM

To carve out dedicated time to write, to return to our projects, to give space to our unique voices and visions, to immerse ourselves in a beautiful, quiet landscape: these are everything for artists and writers in this busy world of ours. But it is also essential to find and nurture creative community, and in this weekend retreat we will do both: give ourselves time alone to dive deep into our projects, AND create opportunities to talk craft, discuss process, read our work, and come together in the joyful sharing of meals.

This retreat will take place at Word House and Whetstone Ledges Farm in Marlboro, VT, with lodgings just up the hill in a beautiful 1830s farmhouse. There will be five delicious catered meals featuring local ingredients (many grown here on the farm).

This retreat will weave (eight hours of!) dedicated writing time, community, sharing of our work, meals, artisanal cocktails, walks, and swims.

Facilitated by Robin MacArthur. For writers of all genres.

Daily Schedule:

SATURDAY:

9-10:00: coffee & breakfast

10:00-11:00 gather, introduce ourselves and our work, outline our visions and goals for the weekend

11-12:30: write

12:30-1:00: lunch

1:30-4:30: write

4:30-5:30: optional swim in local lake

5:30-7:00: garden cocktails & farmhouse dinner

7:00-8:30: gather, read our work, share constructive and supportive feedback

SUNDAY:

8-9: coffee & breakfast

9-9:30: a brief gathering, during which we will outline our visions and goals for the day

9:30-12: write

12:00-1:00: lunch

1:00-2:00: walk and swim (optional), or write more

2:00-3:00: closing gratitude circle & reading

TUITION:

Non-residential tuition: $350 (includes five delicious meals, writing space, & all gatherings)

Residential tuition:

Single occupancy room/1 night: $450

Double occupancy room/1 night: $410

Sleeping cottage (single occupancy)/1 night: $410

*You are welcome to stay for an additional night or two (Friday or Sunday) if you’d like more writing time. To do so, add $50/night to your tuition.

TRANSPORTATION:

The easiest way to get here is to drive. We are two hours from Boston and four hours from New York. Amtrak also arrives in Brattleboro (20 minutes away) at 5 pm on Friday and leaves at 1 pm on Sunday. We are happy to provide transportation to and from the station.

ROOMS ARE LIMITED: TO RESERVE A SPOT, SIGN UP HERE!

We hope we’ll have a chance to write with you!

SPRING WRITING WORKSHOP, APRIL-JUNE, 2024

Spring Writing Workshop! Let’s gather, write, read aloud, and listen. We’ll begin each class with a reading and prompt, write for thirty to forty minutes, then gather in a circle to share our words (either hot off the page or from a long-term project). Limited to eight participants, this will be a safe, supportive, and warm circle where we reflect on the strengths of each piece, note moments that were particularly tender/vivid/powerful, and allow the author to talk about their project and process.

Sundays, 3-5 pm, 8 weeks, $350. Genres: fiction, poetry, non-fiction.

Tentative Dates: 4/7, 4/14, 4/21, 5/5, 5/12, 5/19, 5/26, 6/2 (dates may have to be adjusted due to weather/mud season)

This in-person class is limited to eight participants. 1 BIPOC scholarship available.

TO APPLY, please send a message to robin@wordhousebrattleboro.com responding (in some way) to the following questions: What would you like us to know about you? Have you written much before? (No is fine—there are no prerequisites to creativity.) What are you hoping to work on during your time at Word House? What draws you to this offering?

Application deadline: March 1st. (We’ll let you know if there’s space this time around by March 15th.)

Facilitator: Robin MacArthur

CANCELLED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. FRIDAY MORNING CO-WRITING.

9-12 AM. $10 drop in, or $30/month, November-January, 2024

This is a time for you to work on your ongoing writing projects with company, accountability, and a (quiet) cheerleading squad beside you. We’ll provide coffee and tea. We’ll gather to talk about what we plan on working on during this time, then write in (relative) quiet for 2 1/2 hours, then circle up again to talk about how it went.

It sounds simple but this kind of focused time, community, and distraction-less space has extraordinary outcomes for writing projects. For more details or to sign up/RSVP, please contact us here.

DATES CHANGED!! This offering will now run from mid-January through mid-March.

Sundays, 4-6 pm, 8 weeks, $350. Genres: fiction, poetry, non-fiction.

This in-person class is limited to eight participants. 1 BIPOC scholarship available.

Meeting Times: Jan 21, 28, Feb 4, 11, 18, 25, March 3, 10. (If the weather is ever dicey, don’t worry, we’ll postpone.)

Let’s gather, write, read aloud, and listen. We’ll begin each class with a reading and prompt, write for thirty minutes, then gather in a circle to share our words (either hot off the page or from a long-term project). Limited to eight participants, this will be a safe, supportive, and warm circle where we reflect on the strengths of each piece, note moments that were particularly tender/vivid/powerful, and allow the author to talk about their project and process.

Application deadline: January 1st. (We’ll let you know if there’s space this time around by January 15th.)

Facilitator: Robin MacArthur

FALL 2023 WRITING CIRCLE

SEPTEMBER - NOVEMBER, 2023, Marlboro, VT

Sundays, 4-6 pm, 8 weeks, $350. Genres: fiction, poetry, non-fiction.

This in-person class is limited to eight participants. 1 BIPOC full scholarship available.

Meeting Times: Sept: 10, 17, 24 Oct: 1, 7, 18, 22 Nov: 5

Application deadline: August 20th. (We’ll let you know if there’s space this time around by September 1st.)

Teacher/facilitator: Robin MacArthur

Notes: We expect all participants to be fully vaccinated. If you are symptomatic with any illness of any kind, we will ask that you stay home in order to keep our community safe.

WINTER WRITING CIRCLE

JAN-APRIL, 2023

Sundays, 4-6 pm, 10 weeks

Class limited to eight participants. In person. 1 BIPOC full scholarship available.

Meeting Times: Jan: 15, 22, 29 Feb: 5, 12 Mar: 19, 26, Apr: 2, 9, 16*

Let’s gather, write, read aloud, and listen. We’ll begin each class with a reading and prompt, write for thirty minutes, then gather in a circle to share our words (either hot off the page or from a long-term project). Limited to eight participants, this will be a safe, supportive, and warm circle where we reflect the strengths of each piece, note moments that were particularly tender/vivid/powerful, and allow the author to talk about their project and process.

Application deadline: January 1st. (We’ll let you know if there’s space this time around by January 10th.)

Notes: We expect all participants to be fully vaccinated. If you are symptomatic with any illness of any kind, we will ask that you stay home in order to keep our community safe. Because of mud season, there may be times we need to relocate or reschedule.

PROGRAMMING 2022

We are taking 2022 to creatively reimagine our structures, spaces, and programming. We have joined THE MARLBORO FOUNDATION, a new 501c3 non-profit, are building a small physical location in Marlboro, VT (see our Instagram page for photos), and look forward to creatively expanding our programming in the year ahead. For updates, please sign up for our newsletter or follow along here.

-Robin & co.

SPRING/SUMMER PLANS/DREAMS/OFFERINGS 2021 (cancelled)

Dear friends of WORD HOUSE,

What a long year it has been. ALL WORKSHOPS AND EVENTS are for now on hold. We are tentatively dreaming about hosting some outdoor writing gatherings in the summer and fall of 2022. These would be fair-weather gatherings for folks who are fully vaccinated; a way to begin coming together after a long year of isolation. Sign up via the contact form if you would be interested in participating. Schedule and location TBD. In the meantime we hope you are finding solace in the greening earth, in the bounty of incredible books to read, and in words themselves.

Robin & co.

SPRING WRITING WORKSHOP 2020 (Cancelled)

TUESDAYS, MARCH 10-MAY 5TH, 2020, 5:30-7:30 pm, with Robin MacArthur.

Our apologies but this workshop is FULL. Write us a note if you want to be on the early-bird list for the next session! (Likely happening in the summer.)

WINTER WRITING CIRCLE

Tuesdays, 5:30-7:30, November 19-January 14th. * 2019-2020

The nights are growing dark and long; let’s circle up with candlelight and provisions and words!

This Winter Writing Circle will be more structured than Word Café and less structured than our Fall Writing Workshop.

The evening will begin with a short inspirational reading (a poem or a short piece about the process of writing), followed by an offering of writing prompts, after which we will sit quietly and write together. After 45 minutes of writing we will circle up to share. This could include reading what you just scribed, reading a short piece or poem written previously, or simply sharing some of your writing questions, puzzles or revelations.

The group will provide brief and nourishing feedback and support.

Participants are encouraged to bring a bottle of something to share or an edible treat of some kind.

This is an eight-week session, running from November 19th-January 14*. It is limited to 10 participants. The fee is $120.

Location: Word House, 139 Main (down the Hooker Dunham Alley, through the glass doors on your right, straight ahead through the Catherine Dianich Gallery).

Facilitator: Robin MacArthur

For queries or to sign up, please be in touch via the contact form HERE.

*Note: We will not meet on December 24th.

FALL WRITING WORKSHOP

Tuesdays, September 24-November 5, 2019 5:30-7:30 PM* 2019
(We will not meet on October 8th because of Yom Kippur.)

Mark your calendars and start dreaming! We will be hosting a six-week Fall Writing Workshop (very similar to our Spring Writing Workshop) on Tuesday evenings from 5:30-7:30 starting in early September. Bring your words out of hibernation and into the light—we’ll be there to hold them.

This supportive, encouraging and semi-formal workshop is for writers of fiction, creative non-fiction and poetry. (Short stories, novels, essays, lyric essays, memoirs, poems, hybrid forms, etc.) Both new and established writers are welcome, though we do have an application process for this intimate session.

This six-week workshop will have a maximum of eight participants, accepted on a first come, first serve basis. We will get to know one another and our goals. We will do some generative work, talk a lot about process and some about craft, and create a generous circle of (gentle) feedback.

To apply, please send a one or two paragraph letter of introduction describing your work and your intentions via the contact page. We will then contact you requesting a 10-15 page writing sample. This is an opportunity to offer time, dedication, and the gift of reflection to the writing project of your choice—perhaps something new, or a manuscript you’ve been working on (or dreaming of working on) for years.

TUESDAYS, 5:30-7:30 PM

Dates: 9/24, 10/1, 10/15, 10/22, 10/29, 11/5

Cost: 6 week session, $180

This fee also includes a 30 minute one-on-one consultation with the instructor. There are two scholarships available—please include a scholarship request with your application.

Location: Catherine Dianich Gallery, 139 Main Street, Brattleboro. Down the alley, through the glass doors & past the gallery walls.

Instructor: Robin MacArthur

Robin is the author of a collection of short stories, HALF WILD, and the novel HEART SPRING MOUNTAIN. Both have been translated into French and been finalists for the New England Book Award. Robin has taught in MFA programs, undergraduate writing programs, high school writing programs, and led independent writing workshops for many years.