Day Five at @BrushCreekArts

Did you hear that? No? EXACTLY! It is friggin' quiet here in Saratoga, WY. I loves it. I've gotten so much sleep it's ridiculous. I arrived at Brush Creek on May 6th and after two days of orienting myself with the area, getting treated to some ice cream, bonding with  the other residents, and attempting to catch my breath in high altitudes I have to say I am making progress so far. And am happy to be back in the place I had my first residency.

You know what's funny? A couple people here at Brush Creek, including the interim director Beth, has been at Jentel and loved it. So high five on Wyoming residencies. What else is funny? Practically every resident here was at a residency before this one or is going to another one soon after Brush Creek. We're multiple residency peeps!

So, as per my routine, let me break it down for ya.

The Digs

We reside in a cabin, a lengthy place that holds eight rooms (each with their own private bathroom!). A few feet away to the left is the artists lounge (where the kitchen is for dining), library (for lounging), and visual artists' studios (for working, obviously). Though one composer is in one of the visual artist studios. To the right of the cabins is the Schoolhouse.  A huge studio for composers with a stage and grand piano. Lovely.

Past the artists lounge & artists studios further down near the road leading up towards the mountains, river, and yurts are the writers' studios (Peryam-mine, and Rancher's Daughter-the other writer). Between the lounge/studios and writers' studios is a small shack that the interim director uses as her studio for writing. Behind that along a road that leads to cabins for guests further up the mountain is Armstrong, the second studio for a composer.

The Artists Camp is set apart from Brush Creek Ranch which is a spa and resort. Pricey per day and has nice activities like shooting, horseback riding, biking, yoga, and in the winter months snowboarding and skiing.

The Routine

So, like Ragdale you get meals made for you for dinner. But you get a bag lunch from the main Brush Creek Ranch staff and have materials available for you to make your own breakfast. There are also leftovers for you to munch on. So far the lunch options have been a bit lax. Egg salad, tuna, and the latest PB&J sandwiches. While the dinners are more diverse with options if you are vegetarian. We've had stir fry, tacos, pasta with meatballs, pasta with veggies and so on. Not as extravagant or filled with love as from the lovely Linda at Ragdale or at MacDowell as I've heard but it's good and filling and the carbs  keep you warm.

First day is orientation and the director gives you a tour around these parts which is expansive and gorgeous. Beth took us into town for the second day and we got ice cream! Beth is awesome, we'll miss her terribly when she goes. If you've been to Jentel don't expect a weekly trip per se. Beth was nice to give us one and since Brush Creek Arts doesn't yet have it's own car and must borrow from the larger ranch it may not always be weekly. But this may become something steadier with the new director,Sara, coming in end of May.

For the most part we seem to get together and talk but everyone can be on their own schedule. Dinner is a nice time for us to all sit and talk for a bit and bond, which has been great. And yes, wine has been available every evening.

The Artists

There are three composers, though one just came from a residency in which he focused on his visual art and he also does videos. There are three visual artists, and two writers. We all get along and the personalities are great. Every is generally interested in each others work and we have a good rapport which I've been extremely lucky to have with residents at each of the residencies I have been to so far as well as at conferences. So in general I have a deep love for artists and for the ones I'm housed with for the next week plus.

We had a jam session in the Armstrong studio on Wednesday and it was so much fun! Way better than karaoke. One of the composers is creating an opera and is friends with another composer. It turns out they applied to work together. So one played the cello, the other rocked the guitar, bongos (which I brought from my studio), and piano. Another used his guitar and another visual artist brought his guitar and we looked up chords for songs along with lyrics and sang everything from Johnny Cash to Adele to Garbage to Oasis to the Beatles and Queen. It was awesome.

Next night one of the visual artists made a fire and we just hung out while smoke blew in our faces and we attained a hickory flavor on our clothes and bodies. We didn't make s'mores though we have the goods for them and instead just talked and tried to evade the smoke from blinding us.

We have a presentation coming up next week on a Tuesday which follows the Jentel model of having the residents present our work to  those interested in the community so that should be fun. I plan on reading some short sections from my Collection and we'll see how that goes.

My Plan

So far it's been hanging with the residents. Whether by the fire or on Friday going hiking with the other writer and just hanging and having her kindly hold my hand while going over a disturbing swing bridge. It's been to do work but also get to know people. One of the other artists said it best: He's essentially here to learn from others and he can and will work at any time of the day but it's important to also form these relationships and get a better sense of you and what others do to inspire your work. Well said, Jim!

However, as for my work, I laid out a plan. As you know the first part of Ragdale was not as productive as I'd hope. I think if I do get into another residency I'll opt for 3 weeks or more if I can swing off the time from work. Two weeks proves to go very fast and so when a few days pass by you already feel behind.

I had had a plan at Ragdale of sorts and at Jentel I just let everything flow on a day-to-day basis. But here I made a 9-point plan. Basically 9 things I wanted to get done while I'm here and not necessarily do everything to perfection but to get it done as something I can revisit so that I at least have content to work with down the line. So my plan is to draft several things and edit several things. And in this way it works because I can work on one thing a day and it may take a few hours out of my day but not the entirety of it per se. And since the first two days were a wash with travel and orientation and my last day will be more travel it means in reality I have 11 days to work and not 14. Having 9 items to focus on leaves me the opening of missing a day or even doubling up. But, the plan has been to only work on one project a day.

Being on day 5 (going into day 6 by the time this posts) I'll have gotten 4 things done of the 9 and at anytime can go back and try to solidify. Even in the drafting phase I am not entirely happy with the product but I am at least not feeling like I got nothing done and have options should I feel blocked on one project and go on to something else.

At Ragdale I just flipped a coin and worked on whatever won the toss. I think this is a better method for me. So hopefully when I return home I'll be able to devote time to what I've done here and can move forward. We'll see. Wish me luck!

Residency Time, Again! Next Stop, Brush Creek (Residency 2 of 2)

So April brought me April showers, in abundance, at Ragdale and hopefully May will be all sun at Brush Creek in Wyoming. I am particularly amped about Brush Creek because it means returning to Wyoming where I had my first and most exuberant and wonderful residency experience. And while the first several days (week) of Ragdale was a bit of a bust in terms of mental capacity and creative flow I am hoping that my time at Brush Creek will entail much, more, much more productivity and not an end of time burst. But we will see.

Brush Creek is a newer residency in Wyoming. It started over a year ago or at least their trial started. I had heard about Brush Creek from those who run Jentel and then later one of the residents I was housed with at Jentel did  trial run for Brush Creek and said she enjoyed it though they were still getting their bearings in terms of structure. So, now that there's been a bit more time in terms of defining Brush Creek I'm eager to see what it can offer and what I can produce.

Day Twelve at @Ragdale

And we enter the last stretch. I will be leaving on Sunday morn and it's getting real! Sad times. So last time I posted I was feeling very blah about productivity. It didn't hit the first day or the second or the third really. And as much as a mofo as inspiration is it hits when it hits doesn't it? Which means Sunday. And even then it wasn't as steady so that come Monday and for the rest of the week I was on fire. I turned on Spotify and it was ON.

Pieces I couldn't wrap my head around the first several days became things I could actually tackle. Say what?!? I know!

One story was still a kick in the butt but it gained some clarity on Saturday. On Sunday my words weren't as lame as I thought and come Monday I was a friggin' genius! I tidied up three stories, not completed them but tidied two of the three up enough that I could show them to others to let me know what is wrong and/or right and the third still being a novella rather than a story but seeing where the direction is going. And then a fourth came out the woodwork and I understood the character a heck of a lot better than I initiated realizing all of the men in my Collection, when I initially wrote them were too damn passive and needed to be active and that is happening! So exciting times.

And then another story came to light and another and another and another and I read some poetry and wrote some poetry before going to bed and then I was revising flash fiction like a fiend and starting new flash fiction all the while listening to this band Spotify suggested I'd like called The Temper Trap and loving them and then I was revising query letters for my YA book and realizing I was almost done and freaking a bit and I was on Twitter and Facebook too but mainly these last several days I was writing and kicking butt and not socializing so much as staying in to write and eat and get right back to writing which reminded me of the Jentel days when it was work.

Of course it hits others too. Residents who are here for three weeks instead of two are getting into high gear come the end of this week and not wanting to get sucked into oh so wonderful and enlightening convo and then you must CHOOSE! What do I want to do? Get more work in or finish off the expensive (or at least most expensive from the supermarket) wine and talk about our lives and our art and what we worry about and bond or do we want to read and then settle in or what? Should we eat leftovers and the dessert while we're at it or just hydrate, hydrate, hydrate with water? We can't make these decisions!

And yet, that tends to course things go at the end of a residency. The rush period where you enjoy everyone's company and then have to toggle between spending time with people you've grown to care about and respect or do the work and there can be a balance but in the final days everyone is all "The hell!? I gotta get these things done!"

We all have such goals when we do these things and in the end you get done what you get done. As I had learned in Jentel and still didn't realize would afflict me here during a shorter time span is that I cannot force it. And I was and am relieved that I'm surrounded by wonderful artists that I could relate to and talk to when I was just out of it. I'm certain that was part of my process for realizing that I needed to get back in the game.

Oh, and remember the whole noise thing? Well I got moved to the Ragdale House which is much quieter but has it's own sounds, mainly the constant creaking of doors and steps when utilized and the shutters tap, tap, tapping against the structure during the (four day in a row) rainstorm we had this last week. Lame. But the digs are huge!

Each room in the House has it's own bathroom and you can literally split it in half and work on one side and sleep in the other side. Divine. And it has an outdoor sun porch! Though this could not be utilized during all this damn rain but the next occupant may enjoy it boatloads.

Just goes to show people, when you complain, nicely, you can get nicer digs. Not that I didn't enjoy the Yellow Room. It is quaint and homey and the Top of the Stairs Room is very old timey reminding me of Gone with the Wind. 

We had a reading on Monday night and it was great to hear what the other residents were working on. Since there are several writers it was eclectic and there was poetry as well. The visual artists also came and listened so we got to hit the auditory senses for them as they hit our visual. Cool times. Everyone's work inspired and enticed and you feel that much more awesome knowing you're with super talented people.

I have to say beyond re-acclimating to the real world again one concern many of us residents have is how we're going to cook for ourselves once we leave. Linda, the chef, has been phenomenal in meeting so many various needs (gluten free, vegetarian, pescatarian, lactose intolerant) with so many delicious meals that just hit the nail on the head every-single-time we don't know how we'll cope! How am I expected to cook for myself after all this? The daily fee for Ragdale ($35/day) is worth Linda's meals alone. This is quite disconcerting when I think on it, so I will not.

Anywho, next post will be a full Ragdale review. Hopefully I won't be in the doldrums as it'll be three weeks and counting until WY. And who knows what my brain will do then. Hopefully I'll eke out a lot there, but I believe we've confirmed you can't plan these things.

Day Seven at @Ragdale

And we hit the week mark, which means six days left before I officially pack up and a day later leave. How's progress been? you ask. Meh is my response. Why? you further inquire. Well, let's review the past few days.

The Pros

The other residents here are GREAT. They have wonderful energy. Are super supportive, polite, and kind. We all have a genuine interest in one another's work and we've been bonding on our goals, concerns, and insecurities. Even though we've only known each other a few days there's a comfort there that results in you just letting lose and divulging things that you realize others feel too. It's a great comfort and can help ease you into things as you take a moment to consider where you are in your work and what you hope to accomplish, not just during your time here but over the long haul.

Most of us saw what the visual artists were working on on Saturday and it was very rejuvenating and cool to see in general. Learning about their process and what they are trying to say through their art was great.

The food is freaking AMAZING. Linda Mitchell is the chef on grounds during the week and she is like a second mom. She is warm and friendly and actually loves her job. She is considerate of all our food requirements and makes these delicious meals every day and enough to make sure we're well taken care of over the weekend (when she has off). Her personality is enough to brighten your overall day. It's like she radiates it through and through, her blond hair further emphasis of her great personality. Love Linda. She takes good care of us.

The prairie is my meditation spot nowadays. I loves it. It's beautiful, though portions were recently burnt to get rid of unsavory critters. But for two days straight I went out there and found various benches and just hung out for a couple of hours, which was a nice distraction and point for me to just silence my mind. Surprisingly, I get very good reception here in Lake Forest so I spoke with my grandmother and buddy out in the prairie on a bench. Good, sunny, bonding-with-nature times.

The Cons

Well...my room is not the best placed for optimum quiet. Again, this is where I was spoiled by Jentel. At Jentel your living space and work space were separated by yards and silence. The staff worked in a house a decent distance away from us and very much understood our need for privacy and separation to work. The creator of Jentel, Neltje, understood that as an artist.

Ragdale is an Illinois landmark. So while certain areas have been reconstructed, like the visual artist's studio The Meadow, the main areas like the Ragdale Barn (where I reside) has not. Ragdale has been renovated but not so much restructured for things like noise limitations. And so, we (residents) share our work/living space with the staff during much of the week, starting as early as 8am going through 5pm. And I must point out that Ragdale has a super friendly and kind staff.

So this has impeded on me getting the entirety of silence and calm I had expected. However the weekend has been dead and very pleasant.

Now, I cannot blame all my inactivity on the lack of quiet. I am somewhat blocked people. Yes! I know! How inopportune is that. Especially for a residency I'm paying for.

I dunno if I'd say I'm blocked exactly but it is a form of being blocked in that anything I write for the most part I am not satisfied with. I came here hoping to completely draft three stories I had yet to finish for my Collection. But instead I was blank when it came to how these scenes would continue. I kept editing what I had and editing that until I closed one document and opened another. I removed notes I inserted for myself and just tried to focus but was just not getting in the zone.

So I resigned myself to the fact that I may just have to edit stuff for the remainder of my time here unless something hits me that I'd actually be able to just scribe anew.

If you've read my interview with WOW's The Muffin when I write I get in a 'zone.' This is something that hit me consistently, yet not everyday, at Jentel. I would sit, open a document and for hours I simply wrote. And when I looked back at it was thinking "Ah, not so bad!"

But now, for three stories in particular I am just...argh.

Saturday proved to be a productive day and a story, the first in the collection, I've been struggling with worked itself out but by page 10 I was all out of mojo and so brought up another story to edit. I've been cutting like crazy but haven't been able to sit down and streamline. We'll see how the next few days go.

What else have I been up to? Since I finished the latest draft of the YA book I have been drafting and redrafting query letters for that. I wrote a new flash fiction piece on Saturday (I spent 6+ solid hours writing/editing that day!) and have read a lot of Tiny Beautiful Things and talked often with the other residents.

Saturday evening some of us residents also went and saw Joan of Arc, which is a band one of the most recently departing residents leads at Lake Forest College. We also learned that in small towns things close early even on a Saturday.

On Sunday I met up with two peeps from the Glen West Workshop, Thomas and Deborah and we hit up The Bagel in Skokie, IL. Fun times, great service, good food.

So that about sums up the past few days. Wish me luck that I break into some kind of creative sprint during my remaining time here and if not we'll see what Brush Creek brings.

Day Three at @Ragdale

Hello, hello from Lake Forest, Ill! As mentioned I am at my first residency for 2013 at Ragdale and so far so good.

It's an adjustment. And I mean that in terms of comparison. Speaking with several other residents who have done other residencies and will be going on to others in the next few weeks/months like myself we have been doing a bit of compare and contrast. But thus far the reviews on Ragdale are quite positive.

Let me give you a quick breakdown though:

The History

Ragdale's history stems back to the 1800s. This is sacred land, y'all. It was the vacation home to big time architect Howard Van Doren Shaw and his family. It served not only as a place to live but as a place to work, his wife Frances being a poet, writer, and traveler and his daughters being artists as well who inherited the land. It would be Alice Judgson Ryerson Hayes, granddaughter to Howard Shaw, who would create the Ragdale Foundation and be it's director for many years before making the City of Lake Forest and the Open Lands Association guardians of the conservation and property.

The Layout

Ragdale is smack dab in Lake Forest about a mile or two away from the town of Lake Forest and a 20 minute drive from Chicago, specifically O'Hare International Airport and even farther from downtown Chicago.

Lake Forest is a nice and small town and those who own homes also own land. Ragdale has many acres to itself as well as a path that runs into a prairie. The visual artist studios are outside away from the main Ragdale House which holds several residents and the Ragdale Barn which also holds about six residents along with the Ragdale office and main area where we dine for dinner Monday through Friday.

There is a Friend's Studio which houses two residents, one of which is usually a composer and is a live-in studio space. Between all this is lots of ground to cover which at the moment is a bit tattered looking with the oncoming spring. The prairie is muddy due to patches of still melting snow but you can navigate around the prairie path and see the Skokie River which runs through the prairie and many landmarks/benches dedicated to those who have been dear friends and dedicated conservationists.

The writers' space is within their rooms rather than being a separate studio. Meaning we have a nice desk and swivel chair as well as a reading chair. I am in the Yellow Room in the Ragdale Barn, which is that because it is yellow. There is also the very spacious Play Room which has a doorway that leads to a cupola upstairs. Jealous? Indeed I am.

There are other rooms such as the Beach, Hayloft (which used to be an actual hayloft since this building used to be a barn), and the Sewing Room which I assume was an actual sewing room. So for the most part the Barn seems conducive to writers while the Chandelier studio is more so for a visual artist. The same layout may be said for the Ragdale House though I have yet to explore it.

The Artists

During my time here I'm surrounded by many writers and a couple of visual artists. I've spoken with poets, nonfiction writers, and fiction writers alike about our work and our progress. Since the sessions break up some people will be leaving while I'm here and I'll be leaving before others arrive. But so far the vibes are very good and the fact that we have dinner together during the week is aiding in bonding and necessary breaktime from writing. I've spoken to many artists from the Chicago area and a few who have come to Ragdale not once or twice but as many as twenty times. Yes, Ragdale has no limit on how many times you may stay upon acceptance. This may be because it's a paid residency and relies on residents payment and donations and the city funds to stay afloat.

Productivity

How productive have I been since I arrived? Well, the first day is always a wash. With traveling, which wasn't even that intense since I had one direct flight at 10 in the morning and the time shift is just an hour behind. But the simple act of going to an airport and coming from can be so intense that one does not want to deal with anything else. So day one was about settling in, walking around, absorbing how cold it is here, and meeting others. We had orientation, a delicious fish dinner from the great and sweet chef Linda and wine and talked with director Regin Igloria.

One of my priorities was also gaining access to the wifi which I did in minutes. Victory!

Day two I edited my entire YA manuscript, all 79k words of it and cut, cut, cut. I spent most of the morning, afternoon, and some of the evening doing so taking breaks to talk to other residents and eat and take a few pictures. But my mind was on the entirety of finishing the young adult book so I could send a refined part 1 to my critique partners and I can dedicate the rest of my time here to my story collection and an essay I want to initiate.

Day three was me needing vitamin D, namely sun. After spending the whole day prior writing and editing and looking at my laptop screen I needed to get out. At breakfast I spent over an hour talking to residents, one of whom was a new arrival. And then went out to walk for almost 2 hours in the prairie. At some point I saw prints in the mud and had a mini freakout over whether these were deer prints (since we've been told repeatedly that deer are all around us) or if it was something more dangerous. I was told that big dogs tend to also roam these parts, but I dunno. I saw the Skokie River, took many pictures, and in the midst of many benches tucked away along the prairie found one that made me so comfortable I quieted my mind and just listened and watched and absorbed nature, and sun. It was necessary. After hiking a bit more I took an alternate path  along the route and then panicked again that I may have been going the wrong way. But I had had many assurances since I arrived that you cannot get lost on the path, it will always lead you back and upon seeing the familiar Meadow studio for one of the visual artist's I was relieved that I was home free.

After that I read for three hours. In concluding my Cheryl Strayed trifecta I am almost done with Tiny Beautiful Things, which will definitely be on my 2013 fave reads list.

So that leads me to a new day where I hope to get a good bunch done but won't beat myself up if I do not. Speaking with many of the residents here many are taking this time seriously as work time. As well we should. But as I learned from Jentel you have to do what you need for yourself. And if that means sleeping for 12 hours to refresh your mind or taking a day with nature and not even looking at a computer screen or notebook. If that means reading all day or just hanging with friends then you have earned that right to do it here. Your work is important but if you aren't intact your work will falter.

Let's hope I can also keep this in mind.