Announcing the Motherlode Retreat
Get away from it all this spring, in the beautiful Poconos.
My latest novel ANIMAL INSTINCT is about a woman rediscovering her desire in midlife — it’s been called a best book of the year by NPR, Oprah Daily, and more. You can order it here. And hey, if you do get a copy, DM me your receipt and I’ll comp you a paid subscription to this very newsletter, Writing on the Verge (this gives you access to alllll the archives, which otherwise get paywalled after a month) ✨✨✨✨✨
How are we holding up in these strange times? I don’t have any prescient political commentary to share other than a sort of drawn-out moan of psychic pain. But one thing I’m pretty sure about is that under oppressive regimes (unhinged presidencies, exploitative workplaces, high school, etc), community becomes more important than ever. I’ve written here before about how nourishing it can be to join a community of writers, and how transcendent it can be to remove yourself from your everyday location and routines. And look, now more than ever, right?
That’s why I’m so glad to tell you about a new springtime writing retreat in the beautiful Pennsylvania Poconos, called The Motherlode Retreat: Mastering the Art of Writing About Our Mothers. I’m teaching at this exciting 5-day retreat along with Diana Friedman, an award-winning writer with 20 years of experience facilitating workshops. She also runs writing retreats in both the US and Spain.
Diana, who has written both fiction and memoir, had this very cool idea: What if there were a retreat that was specifically focused on mastering the art of writing about our mothers? I was so intrigued that I signed on right away. We chatted recently about where this idea came from, and about the value of writing retreats in general: