Workshop at The Writing Barn

This last weekend, 30 writers were with us for Francisco X. Stork’s lecture, and 17 for a 2-day workshop of works-in-progress. There is much hubbub the week of an event: ordering food, getting the space ready, finishing logistics and print outs, and payment information. There is much to do during the weekend of the Advanced Writer Workshops: hostessing, teaching, processing…that there is little time as the organizer and programming manager of these events to breathe.

I welcome these writers, from Texas, and beyond: from states near and far and when Sunday evening rolls around and the last of the writers depart I sit and listen to the quiet. In it, I still hear the hum of their words; I see the grace of their smiles. The Writing Barn, and it’s grounds, has been newly blessed by those committed to their craft. Each workshop weekend, feels like a passing. A marker in time. In both the journey of myself as a writer/teacher and the space my husband and I have created to welcome these writers,  The Writing Barn.

I will be posting a recap of the Francisco X. Stork Advanced Weekend Writer Workshop when able, but for now, here is a poem that for me captures the magic of this weekend, with some images taken by the lovely and talented Sam Bond of Sam Bond Photography to go with them.

 

workshop at the writing barn

by bethany hegedus

 

Stork lecture listeningpages and pages of words

each one hard earned

a painful gift to produce.

 

Stork introwe bring them here to share

we offer our stories to each other

and as our craft goes stronger

we do too.

Stork lecture listening 2we listen

we learn

we absorb

what others say

but the small silent voice, that is our creativity

speaks the loudest.

 

Stork notesthe one that was full of doubt

stumbling alone

has found a place where words matter

where stories and the desire to tell them are understood.

 

Stork lunchwe sit and share and stare into the world of words

until it is time to depart

until it is time to pack our stories under our arms

to head home, no longer alone.

 

Stork Workshop 2013we leave our thoughts amid the walls,

our signatures on the horse stalls,

to be found, discovered by the next writers

who head to the writing barn,

Stork workshop table

to enter the safe space of questioning

where story answers swirl to the surface,

where we find the  craft tools we need

amid the burgeoning  tide of our own

transformation.

Stork chairs