Back to the land
October 22nd, 2006
Yesterday I had the blissful experience of returning to Hedgebrook, a retreat for women writers I attended this spring on lovely Whidbey Island.
I was punctual for what I suspect was the second time in my life. I wrote about the first time I visited Hedgebrook (and was punctual) here.
I can’t remember if it was Annie Proulx or Ang Lee that said they thought each of us has our own Brokeback Mountain, but the statement struck me. I take this to mean not necessarily that we’ve all had the good fortune to share a tent with Heath Ledger or Jake Gyllenhaal, but that we all know what it means to lose ourselves in bittersweet nostalgia and serious longing. And Hedgebrook is pretty much my own Brokeback Mountain, only without all the hot gay cowboy sex.
But. I. digress.
Reason I went to Hedgebrook yesterday was to read applications for the 2007 residency season, along with a dozen or so other alums. And I just wanted to share. Because reading dozens of applications for a writing fellowship was quite the eye-opening process.
The applicants’ personal histories were so vastly varied and fascinating, no matter what their writing background. What’s more, I learned exactly what not to write next time I go to apply for a grant or fellowship.
When asking people to give you money or room-n-board so that you can do your creative thing uninterrupted, you certainly don’t want to serve up the artist’s version of an “I love long walks on the beach and romantic candlelit dinners” personal ad. Nor do you want to sound utterly devoid of personality. But making the review committee fall hopelessly in love with you — sight unseen — man, that’s the hard part. I hope I can pull it off next time I’m on the other side of the page.
Entry Filed under: This freelance life, My articles, Creative process
4 Comments Add your own
1.
Janna Cawrse | October 24th, 2006 at 10:45 pm
Looks like we’re trading comments on our simultaneously nascent blogs…AND I noticed you’re on the writergrrls list, which means you’re in Seattle of all places. Now ain’t that the darndest! So, am I allowed to make a plug for my friend who applied to Hedgebrook? No, I guess that would be unprofessional. But I agree that making people fall in love with you is part of the gig with writing. Thanks for saying it so well.
2.
Michelle Goodman | October 25th, 2006 at 3:42 am
are we each other’s biggest blog fans? how wonderfully creepy/supportive that would be! next step: we sit in the front row at one another’s seattle book readings and ask a million well-thought-out and decidedly unstalker-like questions, ha. good luck to your friend who applied to HB. i hope she gets in.
3.
Tiredbuthappy | October 30th, 2006 at 2:43 pm
How cool to hear about the fellowship ap process from the other side.
Now I just gotta wait til my kid is old enough to be left with his dad for weeks at a time, and then I am all over those writer’s retreat fellowship applications.
Note to self: Next time, wait til late 30s, not late 20s, to have a kid. Spend additional 10 years getting that low-residency MFA and applying for every fellowship that has the word “fiction” in it.
4.
Michelle Goodman | October 30th, 2006 at 5:00 pm
TBH, if it makes you feel any better, this was my first residency and I’m in my late 30s and kidless, single. So maybe being unattached wouldn’t have mattered? I’ve also been dithering on the low-res decision since I was 30, ha.
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