The Alliterative Allomorph: Ithaca

Showing posts with label Ithaca. Show all posts

Thursday, 31 January 2013

I've got a literary agent ...

Homeric Writers' Retreat & Workshop 2012

... for the Homeric Writers' Retreat & Workshop! (hehe, yeah, I'm terrible ...)

Those who know me, know that last year the Homeric Writers' Retreat & Workshop debuted, and it was a fabulous success. You can check out some photos of last year's event here.

This year ... the line-up and workshops are even BIGGER and BETTER. We have two instructors this year. Katharine Sands, a literary agent with the Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency, and Beatriz Badikian-Gartler, a popular performer in the Chicago area who often lectures on women's issues, art, and literature. In 2000 Badikian was selected as one of the One-Hundred Women Who Make a Difference in Chicago by Today's Woman magazine.

Homeric Writers' Retreat & Workshop 2012

Here's a quick rundown of the workshops that will be held. But make sure you visit the website for the majority of the details, as there will be plenty of excursions and events to attend as well!

Workshops by Katharine Sands:

You will learn:

Up-to-the-minute tools to organize your thoughts and plan all aspects of your writing and book projects.

Methods of Instruction:
▸ Lectures and Exercises: In-Class Review of Writing, Projects, Query Letters, Proposals and Agreement(s).
▸WORKS IN PROGRESS DISCUSSED AND CRITIQUED DAILY

WORKSHOP BATCH #01: GETTING READY

Introduction to all of the possibilities for your writing to succeed in the new media and literary marketplace. The workshop will provide perspectives on how the Internet is reinventing the writer in the rapidly changing media world. Sessions will spur discussion on how to effectively work with new tools and practices as well as the creative aspects.

WORKSHOP BATCH #02: GETTING READ

Homeric Writers' Retreat & Workshop 2012

Two workshops to cut through the mystery of getting an agent to want YOU and an editor to say YES .. .and the many ways to create a writing career in today's literary market. Whether you are incubating a concept or already writing a book learn tips on:

Practicing PitchCraft
First Writes to Last Rights: the creative process, the submissions process, The acquisitions process.

WORKSHOP BATCH #03: GETTING READERS

The wonderful world of promotion and publicity, including how to: get the word out.

Workshops by Beatriz Badikian-Gartler:

Workshop #01
SEE THE WORLD; WRITE THE STORY: Crafting the travel essay.

Workshop #02
I WRITE; THEREFORE, I AM: The personal/memoir essay.

Workshop #03
CRAFTING STORIES FROM REAL LIFE: The nonfiction essay.

Workshop #04
SHORT-SHORTS: The art of minimalist writing.

Want to learn more? All the links on the retreat website are right here:

About Our Host | About Our 2013 Instructors | Workshops | When, Where, What & How | Accommodation |Events & Excursions | Testimonials | How to Get Here | Register Now! | Contact & Questions | Ithaca Inspires

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Ithaca: Isn't it beautiful?
Who wouldn't want to write, relax and learn here???

Have you ever been on a writer's retreat? What was the best thing about it?

Wednesday, 13 June 2012

Thank you for getting divorced?

My biological father and his wife are coming to visit this Friday, so we're off to Ithaca for a bit of relaxing in the sun. Jealous? Me too. I want to be there now!

But that's not what this post is about.

I sometimes wonder what my life would have been like if my parents had stayed together and I never had the opportunity to be brought up by my (Greek) step father. I most certainly wouldn't be living in Greece, that's for sure. I wonder whether I would have even visited this country at all. I'm sure I would have been a musician, because my father was one too. But would I have become a writer? I'm not too sure about that one. Because when I first moved to Greece, I had a lot of time on my hands, for various reasons I won't get into now, and I wrote my first novel (I threw it away, but it was good practice). I have always loved to write, but hadn't really thought seriously about being an author until then.

I also wonder what job I would be doing now. Being in Greece gave me my first editing job opportunity in the English Language Teaching industry. Now, I definitely wouldn't have got a job like that in an English-speaking country, would I? You know, I could go on and on about the stuff I never would have done, if I hadn't moved to Greece. And if my parents hadn't got divorced, I can't imagine why I would have even come here.

So do I owe it all to their divorce? Ha! What a thought: "Thank you mum, and dad, for not loving each other enough to stay together. I wouldn't be where I am today without your relationship failure." :o)

How about you? What things in your life might be completely different if it weren't for the actions of others?

*Thank you to Jim Murdoch for posting about FABRIC today!

**Enter this easy-peasy logline contest to win a query critique from Chuck Sambuchino of Writer's Digest, and other great prizes!

***I'm taking a ten-day hiatus while my father is here. So I'll see you all again on June 25th!

Monday, 6 February 2012

A great BIG thank you to the fabulous Chuck Sambuchino of Writer's Digest, for teaming up with me for the Homeric Writers' Retreat & Workshop this year!

To be completely honest with you, when I came up with the idea for this retreat last year, I thought it was a far stretch for it to actually take place. One, because I don't have an agent to 'prove' my abilities as a writer.

We all know that some people feel having an agent is the be all and end all to becoming published. They also seem to think it a validation that you can write. But those of us who've been around a little longer, pushing their way independently through the thick mud more commonly known as 'trying to get published', know this is not the case. And now, thanks to Chuck Sambuchino, this dream of a retreat on the island of Ithaca, Greece, is no longer a dream, but a reality.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank him publicly for taking the bull by the horns and making this amazing event happen. Chuck, THANK YOU.

I have to say that, ultimately, it does not matter how we get that publishing contract (or decide to self-publish). All that matters is that we do everything we can to reach our dreams.

It isn't important whether we follow the yellow, red or purple brick road to getting our writing into the hands of readers. Because if you are a good writer, it will be evident. Not only will it be evident in readers' reviews, but it will be evident because you will continue to live your dream no matter how many obstacles get in your way. If you love to write so much, that when you don't write, it feels like you're missing a limb, or an organ, or even worse, a loved one, you will reach your dream.

When writing becomes an element of the oxygen you breathe every day, then yes, one day you will become a published author. I can guarantee that.

This is what the Homeric Writers' Retreat & Workshop means to me. It's an opportunity, not only to hone your craft and be taught by experts in publishing, but also to forget what is expected of you for a little while and to remind yourself why you write.

Ithaca is paradise and has so much history. It is magical and inspiring and when you sit down to write in a place like this, 'the industry' becomes an aspect of publishing that you can think about when the time is absolutely right: later. When you sit down to write in a place like this, the process of writing becomes just as important to you as the result you are seeking when you finish.

So yes, please do come to this retreat to learn, because you will learn A LOT, not just from me, but from one of the most respected and experienced individuals in the publishing industry, Chuck Sambuchino.

But please, I beg of you, don't come only to learn. Come because you want to live and cherish the process of writing. Because you want to explore the places in your heart that don't often see the light of day. Come because you want to write something that will make readers 'feel', and will make you feel too ...

... Come because it's not only the result that matters, it's the time you spend getting there: Homeric Writers' Retreat & Workshop, 2012.

Thursday, 29 September 2011

Photos, photos and more photos!

So sorry to have been gone so long, but I just couldn't drag myself away from all the fun and my family ... Wanna see what I've been up to? Here's a sneak peak (there are over 1000 photos to show for this, but I've just pulled out a handful ... well ... a fairly LARGE handful ...

Early morning, arriving on Ithaca with my cousin Jamie by sea taxi because the ferry wasn't running the night before.

Whole fam (except mother who is behind camera) in small village called Kioni. Left to right: Me, Helga (aunt), Jamie (cousin), Robyn (aunt's best friend, and now a part of the fam), Demetri (father), Melissa (cousin).