dining rm/office

stairway from bdrm

Walking Into Fire:

Sidestepping Fear, Writing Your Heart Out, and Letting Your Story Tell Itself

A 1-Day Writing Retreat with 3 Fun and Helpful Writers

Click here to sign up.

When
Saturday, November 6, 2010
9am-7pm (evening cocktail party optional)

Where
Portland, OR
The (Fab and Funky) Kennedy School

What
A heart-expanding, writing refreshing day bursting with learning, craft, and creativity. Each of us will share our startlingly fresh, deeply practical, and wonderfully nurturing perspectives on various aspects of this mystery called writing. And then we’ll write together.

How Much
Cost: $255 before September 17^th , $330 thereafter.

How Many
Space is limited to 122 people.

What Else?
You love to write. You like to write. You think you’d like to write. You used to write. You’re scared to write. Writing brings you home. All of the above.

Even though you may find it hard to say, “I am a writer,” your heart knows it’s true.

Guess what? Three of the most loving yet kick-but (as in “no more buts”) authors want to help you write with more ease, more élan, and a whole lot more flow.

For the first time (and maybe the only time, given our schedules!), please join best-selling authors and master teachers Patti Digh, Jen Louden, Susan Piver,  (here on out to be called DiLoPi) for a heart-expanding, writing refreshing day bursting with learning, craft, and creativity.

Each of us will share our startlingly fresh, deeply practical, and wonderfully nurturing perspectives on various aspects of this mystery called writing. If you want and need to write, but sometimes it feels like it hurts too much or takes too long or doesn’t come out in your voice, then this retreat was created with you in mind.

What will you get from a full day with DiLoPi?

* Creative mojo beamed straight to your heart

* All kinds of insights into the writing process (otherwise known as “I can do it that way? Really?”)

* The visceral realization that to be a writer, all you need to do is, well, write

* Fresh ways to work with – and even use – the host of critical, peevish voices you know so well but don’t need to believe any longer

* A doable daily writing ritual that also feeds your spiritual life

* Simple ways to use your body to summon energy and ideas, and find a path into your writing

* Straight talk about anxiety and fear, plus ways to befriend those blocks

* Time to do some actual writing

* Insight into finding or deepening your voice and how to access greater heart in your writing.

* Laughter, feeling less alone, and time to ask questions! You will leave with your shoulders relaxed, your heart softened, and your fingers twitching to get to that writing. And maybe with a few new friends to support you along the way.

Bonus! After a full day of doing, we’ll end with an “Ask us anything about writing” panel and then a “Meet the Writers” cocktail party with an opportunity to purchase signed copies of each of our books. (And who doesn’t want to do a shot of tequila with one of us? C’mon, that’s worth the price of the day alone!) (Okay, really, we don’t drink much but we can pretend we lead the debauched life – see below for more on that.)

PROPOSED SCHEDULE
(Subject to change because every retreat is unique and we like to respond to what you need)

9-9:45 DiLoPi opening remarks, centering, and writing warm-ups. Otherwise known as “Getting here and letting yourself be here.”

9:45-11:00 One Taste – Meditation, Creativity, and Joy: How Doing One of These Makes You Do All Three with Susan Piver Susan will discuss where creativity actually comes from and how to have continual access to this source. She will give meditation instruction and explore its relationship to fearlessness and creativity. She will teach you how to establish a daily routine that gets words written and propels you down your unique spiritual path. Yeah!

11:15-12:30 A Million Ways to Kiss Your Writing into Being with Jen Louden Jen will offer you her very favorite ways to find (and keep finding) your creative truth and ways to use your body to create energy and access fresh ideas, and she’ll introduce you to your dream team. Added bonus: her favorite craft tips! (As in writing craft, no Popsicle sticks required.) 12:30-1:30 Lunch break (lunch is included in the price of the day – yeah!)

1:30-2:45 Put Down Your Clever and Pick up Your Ordinary with Patti Digh Patti believes if you’re alive, you’re a writer and an artist. She will lead you through exercises to spark a deeper creative process and explore the relationship you have with your story/art. She’ll help you create a new story while telling your stories.

3:00-4:00 Writers: Take Your Mark or This is the Part Where We Write with DiLoPi

4:00 -5:00 Panel discussion w/ DiLoPi in which you lob your questions and we make up (good, helpful, personalized) answers.

5:15-7:00 Book signing and cash bar cocktail party with the authors (possible tequila shots and/or seltzer included)

I Have My Doubts
But What if Everybody Else Who Comes Is a Talented Writer and Is Wearing Leather and Can Converse about Serious Literature but Me? Otherwise known as “Will I fit in?” You will!

You wouldn’t be human if you didn’t have these thoughts (and if you don’t, yeah for you!) and for some weird reason, these thoughts tend to multiply around the word “writers” and “writing” and “creativity.” Hopefully, from reading one or all of our blogs and books, you will know that the combined team of DiLoPi are all about authenticity, acceptance, and audacity, which means you will fit right in.

Seriousness does not tend to follow the three of us, except seriousness about loving life and wanting to express that life joyously and creatively every single day. Seriously. It’s all about love, we’re all about love, and you will fit, pinkie swear.

What Kind of Writers Will Attend? All kinds – from bloggers to closet journalers, from published poets to nascent screenwriters, from self-help authors to mid-draft novelists, from published to hiding your writing under your mattress, all are welcome. If you need support and love on your writing journey, then we extend a heart-felt invitation to join us as we walk into the fire of writing, together.

More Specifics
Lunch and light snacks included (vegetarian options available)

Please wear clothes you can move in and bring a notebook and pen unless you can’t write by hand; computers are okay if necessary.

For out-of-towners: Stay at the Kennedy School and enjoy the charm. A block of rooms is held in the name of “Walking Into Fire” Group. Please book directly with Kennedy School!

Cancellation Policy: If you cancel before October 1st, 2010, we will refund $205 of your $255. If you cancel after October 1st, and we can fill your place, we will refund $205. If we cannot fill your spot, we cannot refund any monies due to our contract with the Kennedy School. Why do we keep $50 bucks? So you’ll be sure to be sure you can actually come before you pay, and then you won’t have to cancel. We want you to come!

Your Teachers
Patti Digh is the author of five books, the first of which was a Fortune magazine “Best Business Book” for the year 2000. Her latest bestselling book, Life is a Verb: 37 Days to Wake Up, Be Mindful, and Live Intentionally, was a “Books for a Better Life” finalist and “Book of the Year” nominee with a devoted following worldwide. Her newest books, Four-Word Self-Help: Simple Wisdom for Complex Lives and Creative is a Verb: 37 Days to Wake Up, See More, and Live Deeper, are due out in the fall of 2010.

Jen Louden is the author of six books, including The Woman’s Comfort Book and The Life Organizer. A student of personal growth since the age of 12 when she stole her sister’s copy of Be Here Now, she’s written a monthly column for Body+Soul, hosted a national radio show, facilitated retreats in places as diverse as multi-national banks and the Canadian wilderness, and coached hundreds of clients. She’s been on Oprah, been interviewed in most major magazines, and her websites help thousands of readers each month. She’s most proud of being Lilly’s mom.

Susan Piver is the author of five books, including New York Times bestseller, The Hard Questions (Penguin-Putnam) and the award-winning How Not to Be Afraid of Your Own Life (St. Martin’s Press). Her latest book is The Wisdom of a Broken Heart (Simon & Schuster). The graduate of a Buddhist seminary, she wrote the relationships column for body + soul magazine, is a frequent contributor to The Shambhala Sun, and the meditation expert and contributor at drweil.com. Susan is a frequent guest on network television, including The Oprah Winfrey Show, Today, and The Tyra Banks Show.

We hope you will join us for a day of feasting on the goodness of creating in community.

Click here to sign up.

Everyone in Denver: I heart you.

Untitled from jennifer louden on Vimeo.

The recent throwdown between Amazon and Macmillan publishers is very, very interesting. I’m observing from three perspectives—as a working author trying to make a living as such; a Macmillan author, and an ex-music business exec.

When I read this on an Amazon forum: “I am not in the habit of supporting bullies…” I thought, yes. The idea that Amazon would actually refuse to sell an item because the supplier would not consent to their pricing demands was shocking, awful, a manifestation of everything that is wrong with the way we sell art/entertainment in our culture. A total and complete bully’s move.

Then I read this,  “…and will forever refrain from purchasing any book published by Macmillan [heretofore known as 'the bully'] or any of its divisions. I vote with my money and they just lost my vote.”

Oh my. How did the American public get hoodwinked into believing that the suppliers are the bullies rather than the retailers?

As an ex-music business exec (1989-2000), I’ve already seen how the story ends when an industry allows retailers (rather than suppliers) to set product pricing. Recording companies waited around for someone else to take the hit by telling Best Buy or Walmart to stuff their “loss-leader” strategies and outrageous price and position fees. But no one did. Kudos to Macmillan’s John Sargent for his bold gesture.  And shame on Amazon for calling the move to accept Macmillan’s pricing (for now) a capitulation. That word really gave me the creeps. Silly us-and-them PR, dudes. As if you were the ones struggling to hold on to margins, not publishers and not the lowest paid of all in this supply chain, the author. (Somehow, we’re never considered in this debate. If the publisher’s prices fall, so do our royalties. Which are an urban legend anyway.)

Amazon, you are being ridiculous. Just call it like it is: YOU WANT TO MAKE MORE MONEY.

And if anyone stopped to consider the author’s royalty (which is not paid by Amazon), they would see who is really being trampled here. Jeez.