Retreat offers quiet time to write
Over the last five years, writers and would-be writers from the region have put aside the demands of their daily lives for one weekend a year, to focus on writing with the help of an experienced mentor.
Convenor of the NZ Society of Authors’ retreat at Rai Valley, Ruby Bay-based author David Briggs says that this year’s October event is a chance for writers to escape to write.
‘‘The event will include plenty of quiet time for writing, with voluntary workshops, discussion sessions and social time to chat with other authors,’’ Briggs says.
Guest facilitator and mentor this year is Bridget Auchmuty, a published poet and writer and regular tutor at NMIT and Massey University.
Getting away from it all to concentrate on a project at the NZSA retreat has paid dividends for prolific Nelson author and playwright Laura Solomon.
‘‘The retreat provided valuable networking opportunities and chances for friendship as I met Karen Heslop there … she has just published her first novel and I have gone on to publish other books, stories and poetry,’’ Soloman says. She has just signed four book contracts to release books in India and she also has a publisher in Hong Kong.
Nelson writer Annika Ohlson- Smith tells a similar story. ‘‘For years I struggled to get somewhere with my autobiography, so when the first NZSA Top of the South retreat was announced, I jumped at it,’’ Ohlson-Smith says. ‘‘Not only did I get a whole weekend for myself to just write, but I could participate in workshops and oneon-one sessions with an established author.’’
She adds that she learnt and wrote a lot, while also getting a clear vision of how to create her book, and will be back at the retreat again this year.