Around this time of year I start thinking about writing - how to jump start my own, places I could go to study/write, etc. There are many opportunities out there.The Dwelling is many things
A place for quieting your mind and opening your heart.
A place of solitude that allows the integration of your mind, body and spirit.
A place to grow through hospitality, peacefulness, solitude, meditation and prayer.
A time to honor nature, beauty and the arts.
An experience of abundance, healing and spiritual awakening.
We are committed to your comfort, growth and well-being.
We specialize in small groups and individual retreats.
Iceland Writer's Workshop with Bill Holm
The Hofsos workshops were begun in 2000, by Bill Holm of Minneota, MN and David Arnason of Manitoba, two writers with strong Icelandic roots, who find Iceland a great place to refresh their own writing. Hofsos is a small fishing village whose people, determined to keep their town alive, established a fine museum of the Icelandic migration to Canada and the U.S. and restored their older buildings.
Blacklock Nature Sanctuary Fellowships in Moose Lake, MN
The purpose of the Blacklock Nature Sanctuary Artist Fellowship Programs is to provide artists with uninterrupted time in a quiet natural setting to initiate or develop an artistic project. Professional artists in all media are eligible to apply as individuals or in collaboration with another artist or naturalist.
St. Benedict’s Retreats in Collegeville, MN
Gift yourself with some time away! An air-conditioned facility, spacious grounds and a wooded area provide atmosphere for prayer, quiet, reflection and relaxation. You are invited to worship with the monastic community in the daily Eucharist and the Liturgy of the Hours (Link to Liturgy and Worship/Worship Schedule).
Arc Ecumenical Retreat in Stanchfield, MN (near Cambridge)
ARC (Action, Reflection, Celebration), is a Retreat Center operated by a residential community, rooted in Christian tradition, emphasizing the values of simplicity, justice and healing, mercy and prayer, serving individuals and groups seeking time apart, rest and spiritual renewal.
Also see here for more retreats in Minnesota.
If you know of more opportunities for writer conferences of retreats, post them here!
On Sundays I like to take a look at what is new in books or what the book critics are saying out there.“The School on Heart’s Content Road” is as idiosyncratic as it is engaging. A mythopoetics of the Second Amendment isn’t exactly common in modern American literary fiction. But neither is the depiction of contemporary American poverty: of the slow, relentless grind of never quite having enough, of the leaching of hope and ambition from those for whom a job at Wal-Mart is a rare opportunity, of the impossible double-bind choices made by the poor every day. This is a beautiful novel, a polemical novel, a messy novel. It’s a love song to a part of America that doesn’t have much of a voice, and is armed.
Form doesn’t just follow feeling in these pages, it chases it helplessly with a butterfly net, casting about in multiple directions, sometimes succeeding, sometimes failing. But watching Chute miss what she’s after is more interesting than watching a lesser, better behaved writer catch tidier prey.
