Last three Montana events begin with Writer's Voice workshop Saturday

LIGHT YOUR CREATIVE FIRE AT SATURDAY WORKSHOP AND A PAIR OF WEEKEND READINGS

 

The last Montana Writer's Voice workshop of the summer is Saturday in Harlowton.  Here is the first, held in conjunction with The Big Read in early May in Absarokee.  A few openings remain for Saturday's "Jump Start".
 E-mail Nancy Widdicombe at nwiddicombe@yahoo.com or register at the workshop at 9:15 a.m. Saturday.

Workshops and readings have had tremendous response,
here last month in Livingston,  below in Absarokee.

STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS
PHOTOS By BRUCE KELLER

I'VE HEARD it thousands of times: "I could write a book."
Perhaps, so. But why not begin in a more subtle fashion, then work up to that lofty ambition?
Start with an essay or short story, a poem, or sketch about your life. Harlowton beckons.
If your muse needs a jump start, come to a writer's workshop Saturday in Harlowton.
You're most welcome.
I COME FROM a long line of teachers.

Christene gives individual tips
to each workshop participant.

And I've written about people, the arts and travel for more than four decades. But it never hurts to have a creative jump start.
This weekend, I share the fruit's of my life's work in two favorite Montana towns -- Nye, and Harlowton. Saturday's gig caps my writing workshops in Montana (one more yet to come in Wyoming) and crowns the Montana readings from my novel, "Lilian's Last Dance." In the Rockies, we've read and taught in Billings, Red Lodge, Hardin, Miles City, Glendive, Absarokee, Columbus, Livingston and Cody, Wyoming.

Head up the West Fork of the Stillwater River Sunday, for a 4 p.m. reading
and a look at Windy Flats Gallery's final photography show of the season.

It's been a productive, hectic summer -- with 26 readings and five workshops, including one last week aboard the Serenade of the Seas enroute home from readings from my novel in Europe.

A workshop on writing followed by a reading from "Lilian's Last Dance"
treated trans-Atlantic cruisers last week. (Christene Meyers at left.)

WHAT HAS thrilled me most is the range of ages in the workshops -- from a first-grader to an 85-year-old.
My finale in Montana with the Writer's Voice workshops unfolds Saturday in Harlowton, at 9:30 a.m. in the Harlowton Library's new meeting room. There are still a couple openings. We're keeping the class small, under 12, to give time to all participants.
WORKSHOPS on writing have occupied a large chunk of our usually quiet and reflective summer.
Not that writing can't be quiet and reflective. But planning five different workshops -- because some people take more than one -- has been a challenge.
I hope I've done justice.

A Writer's Voice workshop in June in Cody attracted 15
 writers with a wait list of a half-dozen writers.

 THE LAST of five Writer's Voice summer writing workshops unfolds in the new conference center of the Harlowton Library Saturday, and there are still openings. The goal is to encourage writing -- whether memoir, fiction, poetry or non-fiction.  Meyers has a new series of exercises, which will help jump-star the writing muse in all levels of creativity. To register for the day-long workshop, call 406-294-1620 or email corby@skinnerbenoit.com, or nwiddicombe@yahoo.com 
The experience includes a homemade lunch.

THEN THIS Sunday, we'll be reading at Windy Flats Gallery on the beautiful Stillwater River Road on the West Fork of the river.  Master black-and-white photographer Edward Barta will show his new work, featuring the Joshua trees of the desert southwest. A brief reading commences at 4 p.m., with a signing of first editions of "Lilian's Last Dance" following. Barta and his wife Barb always serve up delicious appetizers and wine.

A gorgeous landscape awaits readers as we spend a magical day
 with  our Norwegian cousins at their farm east of Oslo. -- photo by Gunnar Nystul

COMING NEXT: A weekend in the country -- an idyll with our Norwegian cousin Gunnar Nystul, his wife, Anne-Christin, their children and doggies at their beautiful farm southeast of Oslo near the village of Mysen. Come explore this picturesque "Norwegian Wood"  and see the land of Cookie's maternal grandfather's roots. More up next at www.whereiscookie.com