TICK, TICK, TICK!

How did May already get here? As I grow older, the calendar seems to speed up. I suppose this is more evidence that time is indeed a relative construct. It’s also a reminder to be kind to yourself and your writing. We’ve chosen an art that sets its own clock. And while I love deadlines and create them for myself as a means of accountability, sometimes a sentence, a paragraph, a narrative needs to age according to its own inscrutable calendar. Words don’t always flow. Sometimes the river becomes dust and all we can do it stare at the sky. Don’t sweat those “dry” periods. These subterranean moments are actually essential to the process. Writing is not merely the act of throwing words down on paper. A large part of creation happens in our subconscious while we’re washing dishes, planting a sunflower, whispering I love you to a beloved.

TWO CONFERENCE RETREATS NOT TO MISS!

WORK WITH CONNIE IN INTIMATE SETTINGS DESIGNED TO NURTURE, INSTRUCT, AND INSPIRE

Mount Dora, Florida and Santa Fe, New Mexico!

What beautiful gathering places for small groups of writers to create, think, wander, learn, make friends, bloom as artists. These intimate conference retreats (yes, they are both conference and retreat) provide a dynamic learning environment that is vigorous yet uplifting, nurturing yet instructive, with each writer gaining agency and joy in the creative process.

Mount Dora Writers’ Conference and Retreat

September 20-27, 2024 in Beautiful Mount Dora, Florida on Lake Dora

Daily Manuscript Workshops

Participant Readings

Craft and Publishing Panels

Prompts

Literary Guests

And More

APPLY

Send a 5-page writing sample—fiction or creative nonfiction—to InkBlossomWriters@gmail.com. The samples must be rendered in 12-point Times New Roman Font, double-spaced, with original default margins. Your application fee of $25 must be paid at the same time via PayPal at PayPal.Me/yucatanwriters or Venmo (username Constance-Fowler-2) using the family and friends option. If you are currently in one of my weekend workshops the fee, is waived.

Application Deadline: July 1, 2024. We accept applications on a rolling basis, so please apply early.

TUITION and FEES

APPLICATIONS IN BY MAY 1 - EARLY BIRD PRICE!

$1,200 - Seven-day conference, opening night reception, workshops, panels, presentations, readings

APPLICATIONS IN AFTER MAY 1

$1250 - Seven-day conference, opening night reception, workshops, panels, presentations, readings.

A $200 non-refundable deposit is due at the time of acceptance. The deposit is applied to the balance due.

Refunds, minus the deposit, issued up to June 1. Starting June 2, refunds, minus the deposit, will only be granted if another participant fills the slot.

Tuition is due in full by August 1.

Instructions on how to pay the tuition will be sent upon acceptance of the application.

Instructions on how to pay the application fee can be found here.

A small number of scholarships are available. To inquire, please email us.

LODGING

Mount Dora offers a plethora of lodging options, including Airbnbs, The Heirloom Inn, Adora Inn, Mount Dora Historic Inn, and Lakeside Inn. For those staying in or close to beautiful downtown Mount Dora, a conference shuttle will take participants to and from the conference site situated in a historic home.

Need more information? Contact us at InkBlossomWriters@gmail.com

Santa Fe Writers Conference and Retreat

October 12-27, 2024

Join us in beautiful, historic Santa Fe, New Mexico for a week of full immersion in your writing. Enjoy the company of other writers as we gather in the afternoons to discuss that day’s work. Throughout the week, we’ll host craft discussions, engage in publishing talks and prompts, explore our pages and books we love, and more. But, mostly, we will write.

A Typical Day

Morning writing time.

Late afternoon manuscript discussions.

Early evening sunset gatherings, discussions, readings.

Dinner in-house or in-town featuring New Mexican cuisine.

Retreat Locale

Our headquarters and where we will hold our discussions and readings is a legendary original adobe house built by the famed White Sisters who treasured the Santa Fe traditions of roughhewn vigas, intricate corbels, coved ceilings, kivas, and Saltillo tile floors.  The Amelia White Park is just across the bridle path that runs in the back of the property. Set in the historic Eastside of Santa Fe, the hacienda is a short walk to the famed Downtown Subscription for morning coffee and the even more famous Canyon Road.  Stroll a bit farther and you will reach The Plaza, the heart of Santa Fe, where a party always awaits. Wander up the hill to the magnificence and diversity of Museum Hill.  

The hacienda will house a small number of participants. Once accepted into the Retreat/Conference, we will assist you with lodging. There are innumerable lodging choices located near the hacienda; we will provide participants who aren’t staying at the hacienda with transportation to and from the hacienda for those staying close by.

Fees

Retreat & Conference: $1,500

Lodging at the Hacienda: $1,800

Lodging Elsewhere: On your own

Apply

If you are not currently in one of Connie’s three monthly workshops, you will need to submit five pages of prose—double-spaced, Times New Roman Font, original margins written in Microsoft Word—via an email attachment (inkblossomwriters@gmail.com). The deadline for applying is July 1, but we recommend applying early because space is limited and you’ll want to secure lodging with time to spare.

Fee Deadlines

If you are accepted into the retreat/conference, you will need to secure your space with a non refundable $500 deposit upon acceptance (payment instructions will be sent to you). The $1,000 balance is due August 1.

Cancellations

While we know life happens, cancellations create a hardship on the retreat. We can refund your $1,000 balance before September 1 if we can find a replacement for your slot. After September 1, we are unable to offer refunds.

Rome, Italy - Winter 2025!

In early 2025 we will travel to one of the great cities of the world, Rome, Italy. In addition to manuscript discussions, writing time, lectures, readings, and explorations in translation, we will explore the Eternal City and all it has to offer: Roman cuisine, Renaissance art, the Keats-Shelly House, the Vatican Museum, St. Peter’s Basilica, the Roman Forum, and so much more. Check the InkBlossom website for the latest news on this dynamic overseas conference/retreat.

Virtual Special Topic Workshops, Writing Workshops, and Retreats

From voice to point of view to sense of place and more, InkBlossom’s virtual special topic workshops offer writers deep dives into various aspects of craft.

Our virtual writing retreats offer participants three-day immersions into their work, providing uninterrupted writing time, accountability, feedback, and community.

Our monthly writing workshops are currently full but applications will be accepted beginning in October.

Full details for all InkBlossom offerings can be found at the InkBlossom website.

“I wish every writer had Connie. She has cheered me when something worked, kindly confronted me when something didn't (and I remained in stubborn denial), and insisted I keep the project's overall trajectory as a guiding light to move things forward. She makes me dig deep and reminds me why I love writing. She's a warm, wise soul who loves helping writers birth books.” ~ Carla Damron, author of the novels Keeping Silent and The Stone Necklace 

THINK ABOUT IT

On March 12, Penguin Random House will publish Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s last and unfinished novel Until August. According to NPR, “Before his death almost 10 years ago, Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez had nearly completed his final book. Struggling with the ravages of dementia, he told his sons to rip it up and never publish it.” His sons, however, said they found the nearly-finished novel moving and decided to go forward with its publication.

How do you feel about an author’s executors publishing work posthumously after the writer expressly instructed the work was not to be published? Should an author’s wishes always be honored? Does a reader’s right to know supersede the author’s wishes? Do family members have a responsibility and to whom? Will you buy Until August?

Weigh in at inkblossomwriters@gmail.com. Put “Marquez” in the subject line and let me know if we can publish your thoughts in an upcoming edition of our newsletter.

What I’m Reading

This month, as summer approaches, a beautiful essay collection and a can’t-put-it-down short story collection.

Your nonfiction bookshelf should definitely include Sandra Gail Lambert’s My Withered Legs and Other Essays. A writer of infinite talent, these essays focussing on disability, queerness, climate, and coming to writing later in life will evoke laughter, tears, self-recognition, and more than a few hallelujahs.

If you haven’t already bought it, run to your local bookstore this very second and pick up Old Crimes: and Other Stories by Jill McCorkle, one of our most beloved and lauded short story writers. The crimes, great and small, are as exquisite and intricate as a clockmaker’s heart. Few writers can explore humanity in all its vagaries and with as much love, honesty, and wisdom as does Jill.

InkBlossom Sighting!

A cherished member of our InkBlossom community, Linda Murphy Marshall, recently was seen in the bright lights of Times Square with her searing memoir Ivy Lodge: A Memoir of Transition and Discovery. What a thrill and what a beautiful book! Congratulations, Linda!

Share Your Good News

Do you have writing news you’d like to share with our community? If so, send it to me here with the subject line “Good News.”

Are you a bookseller with bookseller news? Send it to me here with the subject line “Bookseller News.”

I will include as many as I can in future editions.

Words to Write By

“I type most of my books for the first chapter or two - I use a manual typewriter for the first 50 pages or so - and then I move to the computer. It helps me keep the work lean so I don't end up spending 10 pages describing a leaf.”—James McBride