One of the priorities on my mental list ‘of things I would do more of if I had the time’, is to write. I enjoyed writing as a child and young adult – mostly everyday journaling and short stories, but life got busier and more complex with career, family and community and the extent of my writing evolved to answering emails, developing presentations and reports, preparing speeches and writing performance reviews. My ‘commitment to self’ last year was to travel more and write more, which is why I started this blog. Practice is a great teacher, but it’s also helpful to learn from experienced, published writers who have mastered their craft – which is how I ended up at the Colton House Writer’s Workshop in Flagstaff, Arizona.
On my sojourn around the world earlier this year, I’d met Eric Weiner, one of the trip lecturers, who is also a successful travel writer and author of several books. Eric hosts writing workshops with authors of different genres in cool locations around the world. I asked him to put me on his mailing list and began seriously considering joining a writer’s workshop, especially if it were in an appealing location. When the workshop in Kathmandu that I had my eye on did not materialize, Eric invited me to one in Flagstaff he was planning with former NPR colleague and accomplished memoir author, Jacki Lyden. I immediately registered along with three other aspiring writers and one published author.
I arrived in Flagstaff on a sunny but unseasonably cold and windy October afternoon. I met Bill, Jackie’s husband curbside at airport pick up as well as two of my fellow writers, who like me were a bit queasy from the turbulent flight from Phoenix. We piled into Bill’s SUV and much to the relief of our unsettled stomachs reached Colton House within fifteen minutes.
Colton House is located on a historic homestead that is today part of the Museum of Northern Arizona. Once the residence of museum founders Mary-Russell Ferrell Colton, an artist and her zooligist husband Dr. Harold Colton, this Spanish Colonial Revival mansion was built in 1929 on 30 acres of pine-forested land three miles north of Flagstaff. Today it is used as an event venue. With it’s five bedrooms, large sitting room, dining room and kitchen, it was an idyllic setting for a writer’s retreat.
We settled into our assigned rooms and then gathered together in the sitting room for introductions and to share our writing goals for the next few days. We were a diverse group with diverse objectives – N, a published author, was working on her second book, T had a concept for a book that he hoped to synthesize and focus, G was starting a memoir about her amazing experiences as a journalist in Latin America and K and I planned to continue writing about our travels and integrate with our photography. Eric and Jacki outlined the workshop run of show over the next several days – we would meet for several hours after breakfast to read, learn and practice different writing techniques, followed by unstructured time before and after lunch for individual writing assignments with plenty of breaks to walk, exercise, sleep or do whatever for inspiration and then come back together in late afternoon to share, discuss and constructively critique each other’s writing. Afterwards, we’d have a short happy hour in the gathering room and then drive to one of Flagstaff’s many excellent restaurants for dinner. Days would be full with a mix of structure and unstructured time for thinking, writing, reading and reflecting!
I woke early the first morning – the three hour time change, the emerging dawn light and the excitement of being in a new place waiting to be explored – got me out of bed despite the sub freezing temperatures. I put on multiple layers – thankfully, I’d thrown a thermal shirt and down vest in my bag in addition to a winter jacket, hat and gloves – and headed outdoors. It was bitterly cold, close to 0 deg F, I guessed, since my nostrils pinched together with my first breath, but incredibly clear. I roamed the homestead along twisting gravel roads that led to several private homes built in the architectual style of Colton House, their fieldstone and wood edifaces poking through copses of pines. As I crossed a clearing, the sun crested the top of the adjacent San Franciso Mountain range goldening peaks, pines and grasses. I turned my face to the sun to thaw my frozen cheeks, flexed my cold fingers and walked back to Colton House delighting in the thought of wrapping my icy hands around a hot mug of tea.
The Colton House dining room with its large mahogany table was our classroom; the light, the view, the decor, the whole feel of this room created a positive aura. When our structured learning sessions concluded and my fellow writers dispersed, I remained in this room to continue my work. With a mug of chai tea at hand and abundant space to spread out my notes and laptop, I wrote, absorbed the natural light, wrote some more, and gazed at the mountains to rest my mind or organize my thoughts. A positive space nurtures one’s powers of creativity and I was inspired in this space to read, write, think and reflect.
Eric discussed the need to ‘fertilize’ our minds to write so we were encouraged to observe detail, note our observations and get outside to experience the beauty of the area. Heeding this advice, one afternoon, Jackie, K and I drove to a nearby trail in the Picture Canyon Wildlife Area for a ‘fertilizing’ expedition. K lives in Arizona and as an avid hiker and photographer, has a wealth of information on treks in the area.
At our elevation of 7000ft above sea level, the fall colors had peaked several weeks prior; most trees had shed their leaves. Nontheless, the white bark of the aspens juxtaposed against the brilliant blue sky was breathtaking. After time spent sitting and writing, it felt good to stretch both our legs and minds as we imbued the majesty of our surroundings.
K surprised us near the end of the trail, leading us to an overhang in the rock face. Petroglyphs! Several ancient artists’ renderings were clearly visible on the cliff wall. We studied them, theorizing what each drawing meant and concluded that the one below depicted two people around a smoking fire, possibly cooking dinner on a spit. Thousands of years ago, between 700-1300 AD, this area was home to an indigenous people known as the Northern Sinagua, meaning people without water who adorned the rocks with figures, people, animals, symbols and other representations of their way of life. Thousands of these survive today and can be spotted when carefully observing the topography of the surrounding cliffs.
All too soon, it was time to retrace our steps and head back to Colton House to share our day’s writing and partake of happy hour. Eric was right – these fertilizing sessions are imperative for good writing (and make for good stories during happy hour!) Training oneself to ‘see’ or rather, sense detail – focusing on what you see, hear, smell, touch and even taste gives the writer a richer pallete of experiences to draw upon when writing.
A man by the name of Edward Wilson hypothesized back in the early 80’s that humans possess an innate tendency to seek connections with nature and other forms of life. He named this tendency, biophilia – today reseach has shown that being in nature or even viewing scenes from nature, reduces anger, fear, and stress, make you feel better emotionally, and contributes to your physical wellbeing. It feeds the soul and fertilizes one’s writing!