Dreaming the dream on...

WRW in Bristol, CT - Oct 1991 or 92

Seven weeks from tomorrow I’ll be getting ready to start my first Writers Retreat Workshop as director. I’ve been director of the Wake Up and Write WRW for the past two years, and now that has merged with Writers Retreat Workshop, so I’m the director of both. Some years ago, I taught the WRW curriculum at Marydale Retreat Center in Florence, KY – on the other side of the backstretch of Turfway Park. Gail (Nushka to many of you) was the director at that time, Lorin Oberweger (who I met at my second WRW in Bristol, CT) was the editor-in-residence, and Jason Sitzes (who became director of WRW eventually) was a student in those years.

For me, Writers Retreat Workshop is a bit like a river. The students, the staff, the guests all flow through the years in an ever-changing flood of talent, teaching, and generosity. Yet certain landmarks stand fast in the current: the course developed by the late Gary Provost, the warm and loving spirit of his co-founder Gail Provost Stockwell, the hunger of writers who want to express something through their work and share it with the world.

The emotional currents of that river lie in my memories of Gary’s teaching, his humor, the sense of fun and play that he and Nushka brought to each workshop. They also lie in the nourishing atmosphere in which writers “diagnosed” other writer’s manuscripts instead of “critiquing.” And in the games of pool with Lorin on the top floor at Bristol, played as we discussed our writing and the classes; campfires at Marydale enlivened by stories and songs; and listening to Frank Strunk play his guitar and sing (at Marydale with Alice Orr doing the singing).

In some ways it is a daunting task to take on the responsibility of the director of Writers Retreat Workshop. Can I bring to it my best efforts, and will that be enough? I remember having a dream about Gary right before I taught the classes for the first time. I wanted some sign of approval or confirmation that he thought I could do it. And even in my dream he was generous and gave it to me.

Every single workshop I’ve attended has been different, and each has been wonderful in its own way. I’ve been a student in Bristol, CT, staff/student/teacher at Marydale, student again at Frontenac in Minnesota, staff in San Antonio, TX, director in Haverford, PA, and now in Boise, ID. This workshop in May will be my fifteenth workshop under the Writers Retreat Workshop/Wake Up and Write WRW banner. I’m looking forward to whatever experiences we will share there, and it will be good to be with writers, dreaming our dreams on…
Love,
Doc

Frank Strunk, playing his guitar at Bristol, CT WRW

Gary, reading over my pages in the midst of people partying for the umpteenth time