Often when you ask someone about the retreat, conference, vacation or any event they may have attended, the response is: Wonderful, hard to describe, you should have been there. You missed a fabulous (fill in the blank). Then they turn to someone and say, “Wasn’t it wonderful? Did you see abc? Wasn’t xyz funny?” When that happens to me I find that I either wish I had been there, wish they had not been there or wish I had never opened the subject.
All that being said, I spent the past three days at Hemingway Pfeiffer Creative Writers Retreat in Piggott, Arkansas. On the grounds of the H-P Museum and Educational Center is the barn studio where Ernest Hemingway wrote portions of A Farewell to Arms. (More info at http://hemingway.astate.edu) It was wonderful. I shall attempt to describe it and you can decide for yourself if you should have been there.
First of all, this was not so much a retreat as a workshop. We (16 of us) met at 9:00 am with the professional mentor, Roland Mann. (rolandmann.wordpress.com) We began with instruction, then we tackled a writing exercise followed by reading and discussing our work. Several of us had an opportunity for one-on-one mentoring. We had a working lunch and continued on until 4:00, when we broke for supper and returned for two more hours of evening classes. This was a 25 hour workshop jammed into 3 days.
There are two diners in Piggott where they serve generous portions at a reasonable price. Several of us took our evening meal there. The food is delicious and I could feel my left ventricle closing a little more with every bite. After the evening session we crashed in our room at The Downtown Inn, a delightful bed and breakfast. My head was spinning, trying to sort through how to use what I had learned and incorporate it into my current work.
We had limited connection to internet and while there was TV in our room, we never turned it on. Therefore I came home Saturday afternoon a little out of touch with world affairs. I thought I should catch up. It was past the hour for network news, so I turned to CNN. An anchor man I didn’t recognize was nervously adjusting his lapel mic. “We don’t know what happened,” he said. “But the President is all right.”
I sat up in my chair. What?
The picture then flashed to familiar footage of Secret Service agents wrestling John Hinkley to the ground. The voice-over saying, “. . . as President Reagan was rushed away to the nearest hospital . . .” Good grief! I had joined the programming of a retrospective about the Reagan years. Be still my heart.
So, that’s it. I think you’ll have to agree that the “retreat” was wonderful. And hard to describe so that you might appreciate it as I did. Should you have been there?
You didn’t say how tired you were upon returning. I am still zombied out! Especially after morning church and evening choir practice. And I still have a column to finish, Billy’s clothes to fold (“you do a much better job of folding…”), supper to eat, and taxes to work on. Better make a new pot of coffee, huh? So glad you got to experience H-P for yourself. It’s like other things where you can hear and hear and hear, but until you’ve been there, it’s all so much talk. Glad you were able to go; now you know.
Wish I could have made it to the retreat, along with you and Pat. Planning to go in June. Just to be where Hemingway once wrote stories is always inspiring to me. Piggott is a unique place. Hope you came away with re-newed enthusiasm for your writing-in-progress.
Hey Dot! Glad to hear you enjoyed the “retreat.” I, too, found it exhausting, but was willing to give it a shot. I know that Diana and the HPMEC folks are shooting for the perfect combination for an excellent event for writers.
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to read your work!