Living On Three Continents: Turns
Susan Siddeley writes enticingly of the writing workshop/retreat that she and her husband hosted on their farm in Chile in January this year.
Her account of the talk, the wine, the food, the scenery, the outings, and the sunny, sunny weather will make all who read her column wish they had been there to share the experience.
Maybe you could be, some day. Susan and her husband will be organising similar events. Watch out for details.
The best tip to come out of the writing workshop/retreat my husband (mi marido) and I hosted at our farm in Chile in January of this year was the importance of turns.
Using a diversionary swerve to shift the focus of a plot, is the suggestion that stands out amongst the hundred other things that Beth Follett, a Toronto small press publisher, suggested we can do to develop a story. Beth, who led the workshop and is a writer herself, also examined the intriguing question of reality, truth and beauty in our current (mad) world of confusion and flux.
Although we called it a Writing Retreat, there wasn't too much retreating done during the 14-day course. Al contrario. Besides the workshops, participants sat and wrote under the trees, walked through the vineyard, swam in the pool and discussed their manuscripts with Beth. Course reading and writing apart, the converted study bedrooms, hollyhock garden, shady patio and rack of Chilean wine, all contributed to everyone having a great time.
The small extension mi marido had said he'd tack on to the farm kitchen to help with accommodation for the event, turned into a small semi-detached with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, hall and kitchen.
After the panic, which lasted all through December, as to whether everything would be ready - and only an hour before the group members landed at the International Airport in Santiago, a super-convenient ten minutes away from our house - he declared it ready and turned the water back on. From the moment the guests drove through the gate, everything fell into place.
During the four `off' days the party visited Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda's, three houses, the port of Valparaiso and the museums of downtown Santiago. Sampling local food like empanadas, porotos granados, pastel de choclo, (Cornish pasties, baked beans, corn pie) and tangy Pisco Sours (knee tickling nectar), meeting local people and constant sun were also key ingredients in the holiday everyone swore they would never forget.
I never shall
Nor will mi marido! He had a gout attack two days into the holiday, but it didn't stop him putting up extra shade screens, fixing taps, and changing the cooler bottles. For once he was happy to take it easy and bask in appreciation. Something there wasn't time for before.
Now, back in Toronto before my yearly trip to England, which is what life on three continents is all about, back is not to basted pork ribs or the dirt lane behind my old home in Yorkshire, but to the end of a long, cold winter. The wrench on returning north this year was hard after weeks of socialising with like-minded scribblers. A cause for hibernation in fact. But back and planning to do it again!
Holding a writing workshop in Santiago, Chile, in the shadow of the Andes, where summer is hot and wine flows more freely than milk, provided a brilliant `turn' in my writing career.
Details of next years' retreats on request!
