Treat yourself to the serenity and beauty of a retreat at Lake Logan—only 30 minutes from Asheville. This is the perfect environment to tap into your deeper creativity. Arrive early Friday (after 4:00 pm) for a stroll around the lake, a swim, or a glide across the lake in a canoe. We'll open with a reception on the porch before dinner (from 5:00 to 6:15, dinner begins 6:30) to get to know each other. If you enjoy wine (or beer) please bring some to share... we will provide some wine, sparkling water, sodas, cheese and crackers. This will be an opportunity to interact a bit with the presenters and meet the other attendees.

Saturday and Sunday you will find a balance of focused work with our presenters, time alone for writing and reflection, and the stimulation of mingling with other women writers. Saturday evening will be an opportunity for discussion, quiet time and/or celebration. Sunday workshops, before and after lunch, will follow-up on Saturday's processes. We will depart Lake Logan around 2:00pm.

COST: $450 including room and meals if registered before April 20th*
DEPOSIT: $225 (non-refundable)
RESERVATION DEADLINE: Final payment is due April 20th
*After that time the price is $500 if space is still available. We must give our reservation total to Lake Logan at the end of April, so it is very unlikely that any spaces will be available after that time but you may call 828-689-2988 to check with us.

Registration is confirmed only by receipt of deposit or full payment.

ALL SKILL AND EXPERIENCE LEVELS ARE WELCOME!

Sign up early to get your first choice of lakeside cabin or cabin in the woods. All rooms are double occupancy. Let us know if you would like a single (an additional $50 for the weekend) should they become available. Chefs at Lake Logan can accommodate a variety of dietary needs; please let us know by email if you have specific requirements (vegetarian, gluten-free, etc.)

PRESENTERS AND WORKSHOPS:

Peggy Tabor Millin
(clarityworksonline.com)

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:
Aerobic Writing
Stretch your writing muscles, strengthen your nerve,  build bravado, and exercise your creativity by writing to prompts of different kinds. Bring your notebook and the willingness to let go of previous definitions of “writing” and of yourself as a “writer.” Whether you are an emerging or accomplished writer, you will leave with tools for your writing practice, new material for further exploration,  and a sense of the power of writing in a group.

PEGGY TABOR MILLIN, MA, has been creating classes and retreats for women writers at ClarityWorks, Inc.,for over ten years. She also offers coaching and editing services. She authored Mary's Way, published in the US and Mexico. Her work has been in such periodicals as Native Peoples Magazine and Thema.

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Lavinia Plonka
(laviniaplonka.com)

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:
Body of Expression - a tour of somatic tools for inspiring the flow of creativity.
While it's true that the words come from our thoughts, where do our thoughts come from?  The wisdom of the body has been charted for thousands of years, from the Egyptian's intelligence of the heart (after embalming, the only part they threw away was the brain!) to the Hindu system of Chakras.  Combining body/mind approaches like the Feldenkrais Method®, meditation, the Chakras with writing and creativity exercises specifically designed to address the expression of certain centers, we will look for inspiration from the heart, the 
belly, and other parts of the torso.
Part 1 - Getting to the core - exploring the deep creation stories in the pelvis

Part 2 - Opening the trunk - Discovering the rich literature in the solar plexus, heart and lungs.

LAVINIA PLONKA is the author of two books, which have been translated into several languages: What Are You Afraid Of? A Body/Mind Guide to Courageous Living, and Walking Your Talk: Changing Your Life Through the Magic of Body Language, both published by Tarcher/Penguin.  She is a certified Feldenkrais® teacher and an Emmy nominated 
choreographer.  Lavinia teaches workshops that blend body/mind/creativity around the world, as well as directing the Asheville Movement Center.  And of course, she is honored to write the CosmiComedy column in WNC Woman each month.

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Vicki Lane
(vickilanemysteries.com)

Nuts and Bolts of Popular Fiction: Part 1 -- Using the Senses to Set the Scene
Working from picture prompts, memory, or imagination, we will explore the use of the five senses to bring a setting alive. We will focus on the difference between setting as backdrop and setting as environment, and work at putting characters into a setting, to influence and be influenced by it.

Nuts and Bolts of Popular Fiction: Part 2 -- Revealing Character through Dialogue and Action
Show, don't tell is the theme of this workshop. We will discuss creating rounded characters that have a full back story then, using situational prompts, we will create short scenes designed to bring our characters to life.

VICKI LANE is author of the Elizabeth Goodweather Appalachian Mysteries from Bantam Dell. She teaches in the Great Smokies Writing Program: Nuts and Bolts of Writing Popular Fiction.

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Kay Stripling Byer
NC POET LAUREATE
(ncarts.org/poet_laureate)

BE HERE NOW

and come right on in, as my grandmother used to say.  Stay a spell. Come back again.  And again and again.  Y'hear?    Now, my grandmother would not have said "be here now," as she had not read any New Age literature, but she was always opening the door and inviting us into her "now," which is what a good poem does.  And while you are in it, you do stay a spell, or, that is you try to make that spell you are casting stay, but most of the time you have to come back again and again, and that is what revision is, coming back to the "now" of the poem.  And let's don't forget my grandmother's final words as we would leave her house, "Hear?"  A poem is language, before it is anything else,  and we must hear it well, again and again, and keep its words fresh in our ears each time we return to it.  So, we will come together to do what my grandmother might urge us to do.  Be in the now of the poem, come back to it again and again, and listen to it.  Hear?   Hear?   

KATHRYN STRIPLING BYER has published six books of poetry, including Wildwood Flower, (LSU , 1992, Lamont Selection of the Academy of American Poets), Black Shawl, (LSU, 1998, Roanoke-Chowan Award, Brockman-Campbell Award), Catching Light, (LSU, 2001, SIBA BOOK of the Year in Poetry), Wake (Spring Street Editions, 2003) and Coming to Rest (LSU, 2006). She has taught in the UNCG MFA program, as well as serving as Writer in Residence at Western Carolina University. She has received fellowships from the National Endowment for Arts and the NC Arts Council. Her poetry and essays have appeared in journals ranging from The Atlantic Monthly to Appalachian Heritage. She is the 2007 recipient of the Hanes Award in Poetry from the Fellowship of Southern Writers and currently serves as North Carolina Poet Laureate.