Writing Retreat By the Sea
Filling the well.
Hello Real Writers,
I have shared some brief thoughts about the Supreme Court overturning a federal constitutional right to an abortion and ways to fight back below as it’s up to all of us to speak up because it won't stop there. But in case you’re maxed out on that right now, and as exhausted as I and every woman I know is, I’ve put it at the end of the newsletter so you can skip it if you need to.
Back to this entry.
Bright spots in a long period of too much work and no support staff to help was a retreat and a creative opportunity I applied far that would be exciting and expansive. Even if it doesn’t work out, it allowed me to see a bigger picture than my world has been of late.
I had too much riding (or maybe I should say “writing”) on this retreat, and discovered right away that what I needed was rest, inspiration and unscheduled wandering. I was already on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and on day two I drove from my hotel to Ocean City, where my grandparents used to have a condo on the beach around 125th Street, and where my family went every summer for decades until it had to be sold.
I crammed in all the usual beach activities of memory: I walked the beach and the boardwalk, shopped, got ice cream, and greeted the sea. And on the way home I stopped in at The Mermaid Museum in Berlin, Maryland (“America’s coolest small town”) where Runaway Bride was filmed (Julia Rogers, Richard Gere) and had dinner at the gorgeous Atlantic Hotel (1895; I’ve stayed there in the past so included pics of the inside).
While I can’t say I came back fully restored (that’s going to take time), I felt like I escaped and can set better boundaries so I’ll have the headspace for writing.
Because sometimes you don’t write on a writing retreat.
Enjoy this pictorial essay and videos of that day for your own mini escape starting with crossing the Bay Bridge (Chesapeake Bay Bridge), which is always the perfect figurative cutting off from one’s normal reality:
Take a tour of the museum!
Writing retreat takeaway: you’re never too old to believe in mermaids.
Chris
In the next post, I share a fantastic exercise for writer’s block/paralysis that will carry you through into freer writing.
My two cents:
We need to fight even harder for reproductive, economic, and human rights. I am hanging on to the fact that we are experiencing the last, desperate, dying gasp of the those seeking to control women as property in order to feel superior and powerful. It will not stand (the lawsuits and socio-economic effects will take care of that) and it may take years, but these rights will once again be protected.
Make your voice heard—however that looks for you (write emails and letters! Who better than writers?). Vote in your primaries and in November. It’s looking to me like we need to impeach a bunch of insane Supreme Court justices (they don’t deserve a capital ‘j’) who have turned their back on the rule of law and instead are using personal opinion against the citizens of this country, and that can only happen by holding the House and taking the Senate whether that’s in 2022 or 2024. This won’t be easy; they are not going to stop at reproductive rights. Donate to organizations that provide medical care, funds for transportation, etc. for women seeking abortions. The websites of national orgs will help you find your state and local ones. Lastly, if you feel called to and you’ve had an abortion—share your story.
Thank you.