Our Summer Writing Classes

Lake Chautauqua from the porch of Hotel Lenhart

Here in Richmond, VA, the temperature hit 90 today, and the air is filled with the scent of honeysuckle. It's been a lovely May, a great pre-cursor to Summer.

Once again, Liz, Tracy, and I will return to Chautauqua County in July for a week of writing workshops. Although every Around the Block Writing Workshop is an adventure for us, this year we are adding more new elements. This year our classes will meet July 18 - 22 in the historic Hotel Lenhart Dining Room at Bemus Point, New York.

It does take some coordination to pull our classes together from our three different parts of the country, but we're happy with our results! Here they are:

Monday, July 18 -- Out of the Nest: The Free Fall of Writing by Tracy
Many of us like to feel we are in control, but good writing requires that we let go and allow the words to take control of us, especially in the drafting stages. In this class, we will revel in the joy of stepping out of inspiration’s way.

Tuesday, July 19 -- So To Speak: From the Poet’s Toy Box by Liz
Whether crafting a poem, writing a prose vignette or describing a fictional character or place—even when we’re just excitedly relating a story to a friend—we all use figurative language to enliven our narrative voice. Come play with various toys usually stowed in the poet’s toy box—a few figures of speech and devices to amplify sound and rhythm—and see how these can be used to enhance your poems, proems or poetic prose pieces.

Wednesday, July 20 -- Hero Worship by Sara
Whether writing memoirs or creating sympathetic characters, we sometimes depict humans as being a little too good to be true. Today’s class will study real life “heroes” to guide us in writing about people who are both flawed and likeable.

Thursday, July 21 -- Wooing the Muse, Part One
Our tempting menu for this class of tricks to inspire ideas good enough to write: “Literary Mad Libs,” “Food, Glorious Food,” and “Monologue: When One Voice Is Better than Two.”

Friday, July 22 -- Wooing the Muse, Part Two
Another day, a brand new menu of idea inspiration: “Putting Gossip To Good Use,” “What’s the Attraction?” and “Recipe for Baking a Poem.” Get ‘em while they’re hot!

Once again we look forward to seeing our writing friends and to meeting new writers. We anticipate our time together and our time with friends in the Creative Energy Workshops at Morning Glory Inn in Bemus Point. (Email us at info@writearoundtheblock.org for details.)

In short, we look forward to Summer, and wish the same for you.

Up Next

Come Join Us July 18-22!



Around the Block returns to Chautauqua County for a week of writing workshops in the lovely Hotel Lenhart at Bemus Point, New York. We will meet every afternoon from 1 to 3 p.m. for sessions in poetry, memoir, and fiction. ($25/day or $110/five-day week.)

Details on specific classes and activities to be announced soon.

Day 6: Andy Sachar on The Arts/ Jamaica

The view from Calabash House looking toward the road by Sherwood Brown











Art generally pops into being on its own in Treasure Beach. Flowering trees are currently showing red, orange, blue, white, yellow and pink. The sea is all turquoise blues and beach glass greens. And so on.

The women's cooperative down the road and off to the right sells carvings, clothing and other crafts from local artists, and hosts art classes for the community. Over by the market, a pair of teenage drummers perform an incredible duet, all smiles and pride. Calabash House itself is awash with its mosaics and paintings.

And then there's Sherwood Brown. While the rest of us are up on the veranda writing and laughing and making sounds of awe in class, Sherwood grabs his hat, walks outside with his paint brushes, paper, and the big enamel pan he uses as a water color palette, and comes back every day with a painting.


The view from the hammocks at Calabash House by Sherwood Brown


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Day 5: Kathleen Worrell's Ode to Calabash Dining

What about the food? Has anyone talked about the food? That stunning bouquet of colors that Suzett arranges on our breakfast table: purple of star apples, pale pineapple, rose colored watermelon, the coral and orange of papaya and mango, creamy bananas. The richness of ackee scrambled with onions and peppers (ackee is a Jamaican fruit that is a buttery yellow with a large purple-black seed when opened. And you never eat it when unopened, or it will be your last meal). There is the exotic design of dinner: white meaty king fish with rice cooked in coconut milk and thyme, glistening jerked pork and rice and beans, peppery beef that falls apart on the tongue, the local green, callaloo, luscious salads of crisp green lettuce and rosy beetroot. And we still have two more days to go.

Day 4 in Photos

Our Breakfast


Our Painters and Writers



Our Shoppers


Our Flora and Fauna

Day 3: Gayle Marano-Brown's "Sunset Haven"

As the brilliant warm day gives way to dusk, we watch with rapt wonder the soulful Jamaican sunsets -- each glorious, all encompassing, and beyond awe. The azure Caribbean Sea is lit with gold, orange, yellow, and pink, while cloud formations appear to paint the sky. Doesn't this beauty abound all over the globe, you might ask.

Yah, mon, but Jamaica's got the edge on Soul. Especially at the Calabash House.

by Gayle Marano-Brown

Day 2: Up the Black River

Flora




This is such a wonderful experience! Challenging writing workshops in the mornings and wonderful adventures in the afternoons. Our group is so energizing because everyone brings such rich personal histories with them and as we share with each other, I find myself inspired to dig deeper and to write better. Then, the fun and laughter of our excursions --- walking down the road to the little shop for sodas, boating across the seas to the Black River with crocodiles and egrets to admire along the way --- dinners around the long table on the back veranda with the sound of the waves washing the shores behind us --- my senses are full and I feel myself letting go of all the tensions of work and responsibility. Watching Flora, our companion dog this afternoon in the launch as we cruised the Black River, her nose high and ears forward, eagerly searching the banks for crocodiles, made me realize how much I need to live more in the moment, how we all must relish every second that we have on this earth. And it's only Tuesday! I can't wait to see what Wednesday brings! Thank you Tracy, Liz, and Sara. You said it would be great and it really, truly, is.

--Nancy Shumaker