When 30 Women Writers Get Together for A Weekend

1. 

It's indescribable! One week after returning from the Story Circle Network retreat in Round Top, Texas, my head is still swimming with the amazing stories we shared.

Sheila Bender provided inspiring prompts, time to think, to write and to exchange ideas. We learned to become  "responders" as opposed to critics; we listened for "Velcro" words and phrases, and in the midst of the process, gained insight into reading our own work with a new eye and ear.

The experience left me in awe of the range of amazing stories each woman had to tell, about which to write, stories needing to be told. Behind each face was complexity, creativity, and compassion but also there were untold sorrows and joys. But most of all, the common thread of shared understanding defies description but moved us to tears as well as to bouts of hysterical laughter!

And, on that last point, any writerly soul who's never attended a writing retreat ought to reconsider - it's a time during which magic happens

Part of the funky weird gardens constructed from discarded bricks, slate, and found materials

So many places to sit and meditate