Ghost Ranch

Remember my telling you about nanowrimo and writing a novel in 30 days (November 2005) and applying for a grant to finish my novel (February 2007 with A Room of Her Own Foundation)? Well, I went up to Ghost Ranch in June for the AROHO retreat where they would announce the recipient of the $50,000 Gift of Freedom Award (it went to Summer Wood of Albuquerque).

I did not win the grant, but I did meet some incredible writers and stay in, what I like to think of as, the most incredible adult summer camp in the world. We ate in a cafeteria type setting, sat in big Adirondack chairs and scribbled in our journals, slept in rooms (no a/c) with a fan to help us beat the temps in the high 90's and read to each other every night after the day's programs were over. I had my service dog, Madison, with me. He had a poem dedicated to him one night. I met Leslie Marmon Silko, an incredible native american poet and writer, who lit a fire in us and encouraged me to delve into that deep place where writing comes from first thoughts. She told me that I should not worry about where I live or how I live, that my "writing would take care of me." I believe her.

We heard from many published authors and had a chance to hear them read new, unpublished works. There were several threads of teaching that encompassed: creative non-fiction, poetry, O'Keeffe and Woolf, the world of the playwright, publication, and more. We sat in rooms and tried various techniques to get our characters and moods down on paper. We wondered if any writer's life was easy and if the publishers are a dying breed. We hoped that we would make some connections that would further our work in the world of writing and get it out to the public at large. I decided my tactic would be to self-publish my work and take a cross country trip to sneak it into libraries. I was advised to contact bookstores and give readings instead. That would create and audience for my work and then I needed to make a website, I was told, where I could post a chapter or two and take orders for my work. Apparently the large publishing companies are a dying breed that are run more by the bottom line and the marketing department rather than those rare editors and publishers who have the courage to publish what is still in the air and not here yet.

Every evening, before the participant readings, we went outside to look at the sunsets and sampled a variety of good wines, cheeses, fruits, and other fare while we talked to each other and shared our hopes and plans and dreams. We were pushing ourselves that week in desperate heat and dry conditions, drinking gallons of water, resting when we had to, and attending as much as we could while the opportunity was here.

I came back home, disappointed, but not surprised that an award that vast would go to someone who had already published a book. However, I found some kind of courage and started re-writing my novel with more conviction about the character and story line. I have read it to a group here that want to hear more. I read it first to the group at the conference and was blown away that they liked my work. I didn't know anyone else but myself would find a way to understand what I was getting at. These women did. So...I am a trained graphic designer and will have no difficulty laying out the finished work - when it is really the way I want it to be and the way the story wants to be told - self publishing it, building a website, and taking that book tour of my own making across the US while staying at the KOAs of America.