The Morehead Writing Project is excited to announce that it will host a Writing Retreat via Facebook.
“It is a small loss during a time when so many are facing much larger challenges, but it was a blow when I realized we would have to cancel our Spring Writing Retreat,” said Site Director Dr. Deanna Mascle. “Our Writing Retreats are so important to us as a site and as individuals. Coming together to write and celebrate our writing is part of the magic of National Writing Project work. We need that connection to sustain us personally and professionally.”
Mascle reported that serendipitously several site leaders were thinking of creating a virtual writing retreat and so the Morehead Writing Project Writing Retreat 2.0: Dispatches From Home was born.
“We are building this thing as we fly it, so hopefully everyone will give us grace and forgive any missteps,” she said.
The goal is to post a weekly (?) writing prompt and then invite members to share their writing and respond to others’ posts via a private Facebook group. “Members do not need to write to that prompt or only to that prompt, but it is always fun to have some shared topics in a writing group,” Mascle said.
She noted that the project may lead to an anthology and there is discussion of weekly Zoom calls to connect and share more directly. “The goal is to support one another during these challenging times,” Mascle said.
She pointed to MWP teacher-leader Liz Prather’s words of invitation: “This is an unprecedented time, and the lack of routine and normalcy can overwhelm us. We are writers, and therefore, we tend to feel things deeply and possibly overthink things. But writing is one of the best things we can do to restore and maintain our sanity and our routine. We will get through this, and we will do it with grace and toughness.”
The Morehead Writing Project Writing Retreat 2.0: Dispatches From Home is free and open to the public. Visit the Writing Retreat page for more information about joining. There is no charge for Writing Retreat 2.0 although donations are always welcome (note: MWP has no outside funding). Teachers in need of professional development credit or pre-service teachers in need of field experience hours please contact Deanna Mascle (d.mascle@moreheadstate.edu) to make arrangements.
This week’s writing prompt:
Shelter in place, quarantine, lockdown, social distancing…however you want to name it we are spending more time locked away and separated from the world than ever before. This might be the perfect time to reflect on Windows: what are they, where do they lead, how they work, and what we can or cannot see through them. Here are some thoughts on the subject from other poets:
- At the Window: https://poets.org/poem/window-1
- Windows: https://poets.org/poem/windows
- At a Window: https://poets.org/poem/window-2
- Gradeschool’s Large Windows: https://poets.org/poem/gradeschools-large-windows
- San Francisco Night Windows: https://poets.org/poem/san-francisco-night-windows
- Now Close the Windows: https://poets.org/poem/now-close-windows
Looking for more? https://poets.org/search?combine=windows
Our first weekly prompt:
NWP shared the following poems for our inspiration. Lift a line, an image, an idea, or a gut response to any of these – then share your quick writes as you can. We started writing with these poems and the simple questions – how are you and what do you know is true:
- Ten Cures: http://www.cortlandreview.com/issue/30/almeder.html
- won’t you celebrate with me: https://poets.org/poem/wont-you-celebrate-me
- Good Bones: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/89897/good-bones
- Kindness: https://poets.org/poem/kindness
