Welcome to the November Open Write! If you have written with us before, welcome back. If you are joining us for the first time, you are in the kind, capable hands of today’s host, so just read prompt below and then, when you are ready, write in the comment section below. We do ask that if you write that, in the spirit of reciprocity, you respond to three or more writers. Also, check out our “store” to retrieve your complimentary copies of our new books: https://www.ethicalela.com/store/
Our Host
Kim Johnson lives on a farm and is the District Literacy Specialist for Pike County Schools in Zebulon, Georgia. She is the author of Father, Forgive Me: Confessions of a Southern Baptist Preacher’s Kid (Tate Publishing, 2012); and a contributing author of Words that Mend: The Transformative Power of Writing Poetry for Teachers, Students, and Community Wellbeing (Seela Books, 2024) and two other books written with EthicalELA writers. She blogs daily at www.kimhaynesjohnson.com.
Inspiration
Whenever I see an invitation to a writing retreat, I want to pack a suitcase and go. A fantasy writers’ retreat offers a magical way for us to begin this week as we write in our community, especially as we all envision the different places we’d go. Take a moment to close your eyes and dream. Would your location be the stately banquet hall at Hogwarts? a log cabin in the woods? a treehouse? Narnia? What would you wear? What writing utensils would you bring? What companion pet would accompany you? What snacks or gifts for others would you pack?
Process
List poems are often a fan favorite form because of their appeal to the most random of writers as well as the most organized. They can be a simple bulleted or numbered list, or they can take other forms to include rhyme and rhythm.
Make a list of the following plans you’d make for your ideal writers’ retreat:
- Location, with how you’ll arrive
- What you’ll wear
- Your favorite writing utensil
- Your critter companion
- Snacks you’d bring to share with the group
- A gift that you would bring to give to others
Then, choose any form of poetry you’d like. Need some ideas for which forms you like best? Check here. Write your poem, and come join the party! And since it’s NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), your poem could serve as the prelude to your novel!
We’re so glad you’re here.
Kim’s Poem
Invitation to a Fantasy Writing Retreat
Location: I’m arriving by Oz-twisting Yellow Brick Road
to this heavy oak castle door with just one armload
Clothes: wearing overalls under my farm-writing cape
my magical cloak of virtual escape
with shimmery amber-hued dragonfly wings
and chicken-foot bracelets and beetle-leg rings
just a suitcase, you see, for this week here together
with all of my writing pals ~ birds of a feather
Utensil: and speaking of feathers, I’ve brought my quill pen
plucked fresh from the wing of a feisty owl hen
Snacks: I’ve sugar-spun cauldron-cooked crinkles for snacks
shaved-off burnt spikes of roast-dragon backs
Critter Companion: made easier by Razor, my pink crocodile
whom I walk on a bling leash in true Funny Farm* style
Group Gift: and one more thing: I’ve brought a group gift ~
truth glasses for all, to see things others miss
*the name of our rural Georgia farm is the Johnson Funny Farm
Your Turn
Now, scroll to the comment section below to write your own poem. (This is a public space, so you may choose to use only your first name or initials depending on your privacy preferences.) Not ready? That’s okay. Read the poems already posted for more inspiration. Ponder your own throughout the day. Return later. And, if the prompt does not work for you, that is fine. All writing is welcome. Just write something. Also, please be sure to respond to at least three writers. Oh, and a note about drafting: Since we are writing in short bursts, we all understand (and even welcome) the typos and partial poems that remind us we are human, and that writing is always becoming. If you’d like to invite other teachers to write with us, tell them to subscribe. For suggestions on how to comment with care.
Kim, thank you! Wow. What a topic. What a poem. I’m just thinking about those snacks you are bringing and I’m in awe with the crafting (and the imagery). I don’t have time to tell all I will bring, but I need this myself today.
For the writers’ retreat,
we’ll transport to The Shire
Fertile, quiet, beloved,
but conflict’s on the horizon
The gift of prophecy for this hour
We shall all write truth to power
Denise, I need this too. What a beautiful spot you’ve offered, along with a focus of our efforts. Hugs.
Kim, thank you for your inspiring Funny Farm. What a great way to start my Saturday – and get my pen flowing! Someday I will go to a writers retreat!
I retreat to the mountains
To meet with some dear friends
Some I’ve only met online
Yet we are joined by the pen
in our sanctuary in the woods
to craft a poem or two.
I arrive with a small tote
of comfy-cozy wear
and warm weather gear to venture
through the woods
looking for birds and words
Of course there’s room for my favorite pen and colorful markers and a new journal bought especially for these days
I’ll share my homemade butterballs,
a recipe of my moms,
with everyone there
and sip warm cups of peppermint tea
each afternoon
bringing forth comforting thoughts
of the loved ones who live on
in my memories,
But I’ll pull back that thin veil
and see them once again
in my stories and poems
Christine, invite me, please. I totally want to eat butterballs and sip tea. Writing is optional. I feel that when we go on such an intimate retreat, we carry the people we meet with us forever.
Oh, Kim . . . what a wonderful prompt for us this morning. With the NCTE Boston trip approaching (and my complete paralysis at the thought of traveling alone), I am so sad by not being there. So, I started thinking about not only my own individual writing process/retreat, but all of us being in the same place. And I’m often wondering how Asheville, I city I visited last fall and fell in love with, is recovering from the devastation of the hurricane. I tried to combine all of these ideas. Don’t know if I succeeded, but just writing this makes me miss people I have never met!
I to We
Event: Fantasy Writing Retreat
Location: pre-Helene Asheville
Agenda
Day One
Morning.
At the Grove Park Inn
I sit around the ten-foot-high fireplace
on an old comfy couch
flanked by rocking chairs.
I am wrapped in the warmth
and welcoming of this old place
that has seen so much.
A journal with a floral cover
roosts on my lap,
open with possibility
waiting for the purple flair tip marker to
create its magic.
Ambient noise of crackles and
voices easily absorbed in
the cavernous room
offer inspiration not
distraction.
A mug of warm coffee
sits at my side adding to
the snug peacefulness
of the place.
I feel at home
among strangers
and the quiet bustle.
And begin to write.
Midday.
I journey out to the porch
and overlook the Blue Ridge
with mist hovering.
A glass of cab sav
sitting beside me,
I transition to laptop
and peck away revising
ideas from the morning.
I alternate focusing on the screen
and staring out at the panoramic
splendor surrounding me.
Evening,
We meet up
at the Vanderbilt Terrace
with string lights and candles
adding a magical touch
to an already enchanting place.
The energy adds even more vibe
as many of us meet face-to-face
for the first time.
We hug and cluster and chat
and relish in sharing physical space.
Eye contact and reassuring touches
and heart connects
cement the bonds made
over the miles and
through years of digital sharing.
No writing shared
just space and camaraderie.
Together finally.
We eat, we drink,
we are certainly merry
under the twinkling lights
now joined by stars,
all of us enveloped by mountains
and magic.
Day Two
Morning.
With fatigue rimming our eyes
we gather in an indoor conference space,
walls of windows partitioning us
from the outside wonder.
At round tables,
we sit as our leader, our muse,
talks from a makeshift stage,
she our guiding star.
She reflects on our journey
and speaks from her heart,
a heart as huge as this room.
She tells of all we are,
our differences,
our experiences,
our struggles,
our growth.
We are Open
We Write.
We share.
We are together
for the first time
yet timelessly.
~Susan Ahlbrand
16 November 2024
Susan, you’ve crafted the perfect getaway, one that I want to be immersed in. All of the togetherness, the we-ness, the what-we-experience-here-ness (but in person) throughout your poem makes me long for a chance to do actually do this. One day…
I too visited Asheville a few years ago and pray they are making strides to recover. I would certainly want to head there to a writing retreat and can picture your scene so well! That you for taking me along
Sign me up, Susan. Your agenda sounds wonderful, just what I need to get away. I’m so sad about Asheville. We visited a few years ago with our family and retreated in a huge house at the top of a mountain. I wonder about it. Is it still there? Thanks for writing about my perfect writing retreat. I wonder if we could build it and make our dreams come true.
Kim! I love this! How much fun you can have with multiple versions of this idea. Thank you.
oooooh, how fun! Your yellow brick road and crocodile are absolutely inviting. I want to join you–and I can by way of this poem. I love it! Thank you for creating such a great opening to this month’s open write.
I wrote and wrote and wrote. lol. So, I’m giving you a snippet of a much longer draft. It got more fantastical as I wrote which was fun and energizing. That’s the best part about writing is the energy it gives me.
I’ve brought my sketchbook
and pencils
to the center
of the circle of hemlocks.
In daytime, I counted thirteen
trees in a circle
and imagine them as witches
holding hands, swaying
murmuring a spell.
Most people are afraid
of the witches
They steer clear,
walk around
as they whistle or hold a cross
on a necklace chain.
I am not afraid.
Someday, I will be
one of this circle.
I will sway and murmur
My spells will keep
the circle tight–
protective for girls
like me who sketch
and paint for all the hours
of daylight given.
Rain is a rinse jar.
Wind a blending brush…
I adore the tree circle here and the spells. Thank you for sharing
Linda, we are gathering… I love the protective circle for girls and the no fear approach. There’s power in your poem. I want to read the rest. Especially as you left us with rain and wind as such lovely tools. Brava!
And I can smell those hemlocks filling the air with such a sweet perfume! Ahhh – what an Ed ape for me today
Oops – escape…
Ooo, Linda, I want to read the whole poem! I want to go into this fantasy and be witchlike creating with rain and wind.
Kim, I want to be the first to join you on the Oz-twisting road. Right away, I sense the magic that will lead us to one another. And oh, what a gift truth glasses would be. Thank you for this fun prompt. I can’t wait to see where we all go. I have Macbeth on my mind as we are in the midst of Shakespeare. I bring you the opening lines of Act 1 sc 1…
Where shall we all meet to write
In mountains, beaches, or wooded site
When the seeds of time have come
When the plot structure has been won
That will be when our tale can be spun
So much to complete
At this retreat
There to meet my own muse
I come with friends
Shadow calls
Soon
Light is dark and dark is light
We shall write both day and night…
What fun and rhythmic rhyme. And, Macbeth as a mentor text? Yes, please. “plot structure has been won,” huzzah! “meet my own muse” oh–I want that. And those last two lines are a great close that include an invitation…count me in.