grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

Simple Pleasures #6

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Last week was filled with some of my favorite simple pleasures. I spent time with friends at a Hemingway-Pfeiffer writer retreat which meant five whole days to talk about writing, share my writing, think about writing, and actually write. This is blissful. I followed that up at the Bat Cave with my Mother which always involves lots of laughing.

So a few of last week’s pleasures were…

1. A tranquil drive through the Ozark Mountains.

a drive through the Ozarks

2. A glimpse of Lake Norfork, (my happy place), perfectly timed at sunset.

Lake Norfork at sunset

3. Sharing the first chapter of my manuscript with other writers and receiving wonderfully positive feedback. Yay.

4. A great night’s sleep at home in Mississippi County followed by a lazy morning drinking coffee with Momma.

5. Being surrounded by delta farmland for a few days! Look at all the beautiful cotton:))

Cotton! Mississippi County, Arkansas

Here’s wishing you a week of good coffee and lots of laughter.

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

[tweetthis]Laughter, time to write, sleeping in my own bed. A few of last week’s #simple #pleasures. [/tweetthis]

Musical Pairing:

David Nail – Turning Home

Ernest Hemingway Wrote Here

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Ernest Hemingway Wrote Here. Piggott, Ar

Hemingway’s Barn, Piggott, Arkansas

I am fortunate to be attending my fifth writer’s retreat at Hemingway-Pfeiffer Educational Center, a truly magical place not only because Ernest Hemingway wrote here(!) but because of the synergy created by the writers who gather.

This spot in Northeast Arkansas is hallowed—the trees, the grounds, the barn where he wrote a portion of A Farewell to Arms and other short stories. If you know me, you are rolling your eyes and saying, “Here she goes ago again.” Yes, I’ve written about this place before. And I likely will again.

Ernest Hemingway Wrote in this barn.

I am reminded of the reasons to attend a writer’s retreat. The benefits extend well beyond the words on the page. Each session is different, a result of the mentor-teacher and the student writers who bring different backgrounds, ideas, experiences, and voices to the table. We feel safe to share the truth and write our stories.

I imagine a swirl of creative color flowing over the room. Colors as bright as the fall leaves outside our window.

Although this group spans the nation from coast to coast with careers ranging from education, anthropology, military, and others, I am reminded of how alike we are in our upbringings, our dreams and desires, the things that touch us.

I am also reminded of our differences.

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

 

 

Hemingway’s Barn

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Stories that waited for paper now wait for me. 
With so much to say, I search for a worthy beginning. Thoughts that swirled and drifted through dreams, now hide just out of reach.
Inside this barn, I am filled with something greater. I am filled with possible.
Through the windowpane, I gaze into a towering matt of dark green leaves.  Trees inspire and shade and watch over me, the same trees that watched him too.
My thoughts are safe inside this space. I am free to explore, free to wonder and wander. The air is full of potential.
A ray of sunshine splits the canopy and brightens my writing table. 
Dust motes dance. 
In the distance, a train rumbles, then and now.
He said there is nothing to writing.  Just sit down at the typewriter and bleed. 
And so I bleed.
talya
Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.
 
Hemingway’s Barn won 2nd place in the 2013 White County Creative Writer’s competition for the category “Favorite Writing Place”. 
 
For information on Hemingway’s Barn and the Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Educational Center, click HERE. 

Food. Farm. Garden. Life.

THANKS FOR READING!