Fall Writerfest 2020

Our dates are set for 2020. We will be meeting September 13 to September 18 in our new fixed time slot starting every year now on the Sunday after Labor Day. We'll post here when registrations open on the Pyramid Life Center web site.

Coffee and Centering with Nelle - 7:30 - 8:00am in the Dining Hall

Coffee and Centering with Nelle

7:30 - 8:00am in the Dining Hall

Breakfast is served at 8:00am in the Dining Hall, but coffee and tea are available by 7.

You’re invited to start your day with coffee and “centering” from 7:30  to 8:00am with Nelle Stanton. Themes for each day will focus on the tasks of a writer: attention to setting, deep listening, body awareness, being “here now” as preparation for work, and letting go in order to receive. 

These topics are inherently spiritual as they speak to the unseen reality of our daily lives. None are religious - at least not the way they will be offered this week. 

Caffeine and deep relaxation may seem like an odd combination. They do, however, fuel the Body-Mind-Spirit nexus of creativity. At least, that’s the plan!

- Nelle Stanton is a retired healthcare chaplain trained in various forms of meditation, energy healing, and spiritual expression.

Seminars So Far

We have scheduled the following seminars. Each one will meet after lunch; no need to sign up in advance. We expect to add more to the schedule to give participants a few options on some dates.

Monday - Writing Through Grief - Liza Marie Apper

Tuesday - Writing and Publishing the Young Adult Novel - Hollis Seamon

Wednesday - The Chi of Poetry - Therese Broderick

Thursday -Submitting Your Writing to Literary Journals - Ellie O'Leary

Seminars

The Fall Writerfest 2019 is shaping up nicely now. People are registering and selecting their choice of the morning workshops. There are four to choose from - short story, personal essay, poetry and multi-genre. Now we move on to the afternoon seminars, still in the planning stages but so far we have tai chi, submitting work to lit mags, and writing through grief . There will be more to follow.

Multi-Genre Workshop with Ellie O'Leary

The Genre Sampler. Bring in your topic and we will put it through the genres of letters, essays, fiction, and poetry to see where you get the expression you want. 

Ellie O’Leary often writes about growing up in the village of Freedom, Maine. She’s the previous host of Writer’s Forum on WERU-FM and teaches writing at the Pyramid Life Center in the Adirondacks. Ellie graduated from the Stonecoast MFA program. Her memoir Up Home Again and her poetry manuscript Breathe Here are forthcoming with North Country Press.

Creative Non-Fiction Workshop with Jeff Campbell

Personal Narrative: Turning Life into Story

Life is what we make of it. And the way we make something out of it is through storytelling, by crafting narratives that universalize our personal experience. This creative nonfiction workshop explores story structure and techniques whose goal is shaping real life for impact, insight, emotion, and meaning. Participants should draft and bring a thousand-word (max) personal narrative that tells the story of a single moment or event that represents overcoming an obstacle, which will be used during the workshop.

Jeff Campbell Biography:

Jeff Campbell is a life-long book editor, former travel writer, writing teacher, and most recently the author of two YA nonfiction books about animals: Daisy to the Rescue and Last of the Giants, which was a 2016 Junior Library Guild selection. He currently hails from New Jersey, which may or may not tell you something about the way he drives.