Stirring Up the Muse

-




The past two weekends I’ve participated in writer’s events. Last weekend Jackie Dove-Miller and I traveled to Ridgeland, SC for the Second Annual “Novel” Wine Tasting, Arts, and Literary Festival. It was held at the September Oats Winery, a beautiful setting of live oaks dripping with Spanish moss. We were blessed with perfect outdoor-event-weather. Over sixty authors and artists participated. Walking the grounds in their 19th century finery were members of Sons of Confederate Veterans Charles Jones Colcock Camp 2100 and the Massachusetts 54th Company 1. As could be expected there was an air of having stepped back in a bygone time.

I met new people and had my first taste of shrimp gumbo. I am hooked and want more, more, MORE! The writers and artists were treated with a complimentary glass of wine and the wine tasting room stayed busy throughout the day.The icing on the cake was having two of my daughters, Deborah and Julia spend the day with us, helping out with everything from setting up our tent to shuttling me around in Deborah's golf cart. Deborah lives nearby and Julia was in town to visit her. 


My friend, Jackie, brought me to tears with her beautiful reading of her poems "That Something Within" and "I Want to Matter" from her book, Some Things I Just Know. The event was capped off with a lovely after party with a wonderful spread of food and drink.


This weekend’s event was closer to home. The Franklin County Arts Council Writers Guild had its First Annual Writers Day Retreat. Again, we enjoyed a beautiful setting on the shore of Falls Lake. The park's community building itself was enough to call up the writing muses with its fireplace, glass walls, and the convenience of a full kitchen. The view included the lake and the woods in full fall color. We did not have perfect weather. It was rainy, chilly and windy. But, that did not matter to the group of writers. In fact, we all said it enhanced the atmosphere for writing. Poet and teacher, Phillip Shabazz, led the group in a workshop where he opened a discussion of the muses, siting that it was unique to the human being. We dug deeper with an exercise on what things, people, or events have made us who we are. The workshop set the tone for a day of soul searching, writing and sharing. We broke for lunch and readings, then back to writing.


I also found time to walk, take photographs, watch an eagle flying over the lake and met another photographer who had come to the park to take pictures. Being out in the weather was refreshing to body, mind and spirit. I was keenly aware of using all of my senses – even the act of breathing the cool, fresh air was inspiring. I didn’t start a novel or write anything particularly profound as some of the ladies did, but the day was healing to my soul. Just being in the presence of such loving, talented, and giving people made it a day to remember.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I Wasn't Really into Politics

-
Image
  I really wasn't into politics for most of my life. What I remember about politics was that Mama believed in voting for the man, not the party. Growing up almost everyone in my hometown were registered Democrat because there was some reason that had to do with voting in the primaries. I don’t know why to this day. But, in my idealistic 18-year-old brain I thought there should be a balance, so I registered Republican. And voted for Nixon! I worked at the poles and embroidered an elephant on my bell-bottomed blue jeans. Daddy defended Nixon through the whole Watergate thing, so I did too. I had no clue what it was all about. I don’t remember Mama voicing an opinion. She didn’t believe in arguing politics. It was forbidden at the dinner table. Fast forward past my young adult self. My husband was a union member and a shop-steward. He helped campaign for Kennedy. Our garage held stacks of yard signs and bumper stickers. He preached that the Democrats were for the working man. I di
Read more

I Wish I'd Asked Grandma

-
“I wish I’d asked Grandma while she was still here about the time . . ..” How many of us have said those very words? How many of us can’t remember the details of old stories once told out on the front porch after supper on a summer’s evening? Maybe we were young when the stories were being told and didn’t think we’d one day wish we’d listened more carefully. Wish we’d taken the time to write them down. I am preparing to facilitate a weeklong writing workshop titled Front Porch Stories . In this workshop we will be preserving those old stories we used to hear the grownups tell out on the front porch after supper. Before TV and computers folks told stories for entertainment. On a summer’s night after supper we sat out on the screened in front porch to catch a cool breeze and let supper settle before bedtime. We sipped iced tea or lemonade and talked. The little children played in the yard, chasing and catching lightning bugs. But even the children finally came to rest and lis
Read more

When the Lights go Out

-
Image
It is hurricane season, which heightens the chances of going without out power for a while. I learned there are lots of things we don’t really need to survive. Well, I already knew it from countless camping trips my husband and I took with the kids when they were little and we were poor. First of all flashlights will get you to the bathroom without stubbing your toes. And you can read by flashlight, find the potato chips and check to make sure the kids didn’t sneak out in the middle of the night. Second, cooking on the grill or over a wood fire is fun – for three days then it’s a pain in the tail because the kids get tired of gathering deadfall. Third, a five-gallon bucket and a toilet plunger will make a pretty good washing machine, and then there is the solar powered dryer, aka the clothesline. There are plenty of things you can do for fun besides watch TV or hanging out on social media: board games, read, walk, play out doors, sew, paint and draw, arts and crafts
Read more