Lured by the shiny bits
I’ve written it before and I will go on saying it about the High Country Writers Retreat, except there is one major change for 2021. Yes, it is the pandemic, the other big C word.
In 2020, the second High Country Writers Retreat and Festival defied the trends. The combined events went ahead successfully in October, under COVID plans.
Buoyed by the success and enthusiasm for 2020's events, plans for the 'next level' events in the third year - 2021 - proceeded with optimism. Much pirouetting - mostly with grace - occurred as uncertainty escalated. Yesterday was to be a milestone - for positive reasons - not those that forced the Director's decision to postpone until October 2022.
The New England is facing lockdowns and restrictions on this very day, the second only since the early stage more than twelve months ago. It is quite possible that more words have been written about this wretched disease than on any other topic in history. So stated, I will move on, except to suggest that the term rolling strikes might have cause for a new meaning.
I’ve sung the High Country Writers Retreat and Festival ‘song’ in previous journal entries. If this is your first visit, I hope it sounds like the perfect one for you. Precise dates will be confirmed very soon, but in the meantime, these are the lines I've hummed before, and do again...
If you are yearning for a big dollop of elusive exclusive time to get lost in your writerly world, make this your annual writerly event. Next one in October 2022.
If you are looking for a more flexible program, one tailored specifically to your writerly wants or needs, make this your annual writerly event, starting from 2022.
If part of the cocktail that inspires you to write, and keep at it, includes weaving it with hearing the thoughts and stories of other emerging writers and published guest authors, then this must be your annual writerly event!
There is nothing more motivating for those who are still dreaming about becoming a writer, than being with others who are living a writers' life, for one or every day of the week.
If you battle with thoughts of 'One day, I will write!', start by writing this in big bold letters on your wall: One day begins now, today. If you do not start today, then that one day writerly life will never arrive!
What I wouldn't give to have one of these retreats at Waterloo Station every three months, with endless spaces to work, relax, and share the writerly highs and lows with fellow writers.
I will be as excited in 2022 to be amongst the writers at Waterloo Station and The Makers Shed, just as I have been leading up to the 2021 Retreat. Just quietly, my excitement meter jumps a few notches for being a part of the growing list of guest authors who appear at the High Country Writers Festival. If the writerly life is your dream, this could be how your story begins.
I hope to meet you - and/or your writerly friends - at the High Country Writers Retreat at Waterloo Station and the High Country Writers Festival in 2022.
Between now and then, there are shiny bits luring me to the hidden historical adventures and mysteries that wait in my writerly life. Be well and write with love and fury.
For more information, including terms and conditions, click on the links above and/or contact VIRGINIA EDDY, RETREAT DIRECTOR, on 0412 708 315
