In a Friend's Garden

Doe Branch Ink

A few years ago, I heard that a writers' retreat had sprung up on Doe Branch, just seven miles down the road from our farm.

Cool, I thought and filed the info away in what passes for my brain and pretty much forgot about it. Then, this summer at Wildacres, one of the faculty (Marjorie Hudson, whose ACCIDENTAL BIRDS OF THE CAROLINAS I blogged about a while ago) mentioned that she'd led a workshop there and what a terrific place it was.

Cool, I thought, and pretty much forgot about it.

Then, last week I got an email, asking me to lead a fiction workshop there this October. 

Cool, I thought . . . and met with the director to discuss it.

So, this is the offering as seen on the Doe Branch Ink website:

0/19-10/25 Vicki Lane, Jump Start Your Novel 

Vicki’s workshop — Jump Start Your Novel — is ideal for writers starting or under way with their first book length project.  The workshop follows a proven approach for Vicki and her students of all ages.

JUMP START YOUR NOVEL – The Nuts and Bolts Approach

Whether you have a novel in progress, an idea for a novel, or just the idea that you’d like to write a novel, this is the workshop for you. It was a workshop like this that started Vicki’s writing career (six novels published and counting) and a workshop like this that has resulted in completed novels from a number of her students.

During morning meetings, Vicki will offer guidance in the basics of setting, plot, characterization, and dialogue with practical and cautionary information about seeking an agent, submitting a manuscript, and building a career.  There will be some brief in-class writing prompts and there will be short (1-2 pages) assignments (which may incorporate the writer’s work in progress) written outside of class time. These assignments will be discussed during the next day’s workshop.   Afternoon and evenings will be free for writing, rest, reflection, or relaxation.  Vicki will be available most afternoons for one on one conferences. The text will be the highly acclaimed Don’t Sabotage Your Submission by career manuscript editor Chris Roerden (Bella Rosa books –ISBN 978-1-933523-31-6.)

It really sounds pretty idyllic -- no more than eight workshop participants, meals catered by Zumas -- a quirky coffeeshop/eatery in nearby Marshall,  fall in the mountains at what is usually the peak of leaf color, a beautiful, secluded location, lots of free time . . . There could even be a field trip to our farm -- to talk about creating a fictional setting from a real place . . 

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If any of you are interested, there's much more info  HERE about Doe Branch Ink -- and I'll try to answer questions if I know the answers.

This could be the start of something big . . .

Autumn Approaches . . .

It's coming . . .

Fields of tobacco are golden and harvest-ready . . .

Some of the maples are beginning to turn . . .

Autumn Clematis (Virgin's Bower) is draping the roadsides . . .

Doubtless there'll be more hot weather before fall truly arrives but meanwhile . . .

There's corn, corn, and more corn . . .

Beatrix Potter's Gardening Life

Marta McDowell's charming look at Beatrix Potter's world traces Potter's development as a gardener and as an artist. (the two are inextricably linked) and takes  the reader through the four seasons in Potter's garden. 

Richly illustrated with photographs, both current and archival, as well as Potter's lovely drawings and watercolors, the book is comfort food for gardeners.

This delightful book is also for anyone who has fond memories of Peter Rabbit or Jemima Puddleduck or Mrs. Tiggy Wiggle . . .

 And for anyone interested in seeing how Beatrix Potter's environs shaped her work -- and , for she was an ambitious and gifted gardener, how her work shaped her environs.

For Anglophiles and for lovers of landscape . . .

And for watercolorists -- and those who wish they were.

Highly recommended.

Photo Potpourri

Rugby Writing Workshop - 2014

Last weekend's writing workshop in istoric Rugby was a delight. We met in the (partially) restored Uffington House that was built for Madame Hughes -- the elderly mother of the founder of Rugby who travelled from England to lend her support to this utopian venture, spending the rest of her life in the Tennessee 'wilderness.'

It was a diverse and talented group -- about half were repeat offenders  returnees from previous classes and it was a pleasure to see where they had taken their work during the past year. One woman, who had begun her novel at the weeklong workshop I led at John C. Campbell last year, had even completed her novel.  I was thrilled! 

We worked long and hard. Each participant had submitted around twenty pages and each received an hour's in depth critique from the rest of us. It was exciting to hear the suggestions and ideas for  plot twists that emerged and to see the fledgling writers beginning to find a shape for their work;

At least three of the participants had set their novels in Rugby -- one modern day, the other two in the past. One of these dealt with Emily Hughes, who had lived here in Uffington House with her grandmother Madame Hughes. 

I think all of us had the feeling that Madame Hughes's spirit was looking on in approval that her literary son's endeavor was now nuturing other writers.

The Kittehs Observe . . .

Goodbye

Paper pennants, decorations for the wedding in June, were still flying, a little faded, some missing -- a poignant reminder of the joy that had filled us all on that day.

Yesterday morning  friends and family gathered for the burial. Teo's friends had dug a grave on a gentle knoll with long views across peaceful pastures to the mountains beyond,  The coffin, handmade by Teo's father and father-in-law, rested  on the table where the wedding feast had been spread. The plaintive tones of a Cherokee flute sounded as people approached the coffin, laying gentle hands on the new wood and saying goodbye. Teo's family sang a beautiful hymn and his mother read a poem. Then the pallbearers -- Teo's friends and Teo's sister  -- carried him, shoulder high, up to the knoll. 

Baskets containing significant objects -- among them, deer antlers, a worn  baseball cap, a tissue wet with the bride-widow's tears -- were lowered into the grave after the coffin, as were Teo's logging boots. Words were said and finally friends and family took turns adding  handfuls or shovelfuls of dirt to the grave.

And once again, all gathered at the table for another meal. 

Tears and hugs were plentiful , , , all  present so very aware of the preciousness of life and love.

And as the day wore on, there were some smiles . . . and even laughter.

May his memory be a blessing.

Such Strange Birds