I spent the last five days and four nights on retreat at Gilchist, the Three Rivers, MI, retreat center owned by the Fetzer Institute. I take time away there at least once and sometimes two or three times a year. I love the deep quiet places that surround me as a guest there. I will post photos and words about the retreat experiences on my other blog.

One thing I do at Gilchrist that I never have enough time for at home is read, read, read.

Since last Friday I completed The Spiral Staircase by Karen Armstrong, The Memoir Bookby Patti Miller, the latest issue of Poets and Writers Magazine, and Pablo Neruda’s Memoirs. I also read some new sections of Tom Brokaw”s Boom In addition, I started Peter Block’s, Community: The Structure of Belongingand other reading for my work at Fetzer.

I also wrote this and two other blog posts while on retreat. Since I had no access to the internet at Gilchrist, I saved drafts and will post them all today. I hope they take you also to a deep quiet place, however briefly.

]]> http://www.shirleyshowalter.com/2008/09/09/on-retreat/feed/ 0 http://www.shirleyshowalter.com/2008/08/09/starting-out/ http://www.shirleyshowalter.com/2008/08/09/starting-out/#comments Sat, 09 Aug 2008 21:35:02 +0000 shirleyhs http://www.shirleyshowalter.com/?p=8 This blog structure is not yet published, finished, but my dear son has set up all the first steps for me. I picked the name 100memoirs because I took Heather Seller’s advice to heart in her book Chapter After Chapter. Sellers advises new writers to read 100 excellent examples of their genre before attempting to enter the ring with the best. So, I will write about memoir here, learn about blogging at the same time, and reach out to others who might benefit from all this reading and writing.