Going Places

Like Alaska With Me Next Summer!

Hi friends,

Happy September! It’s my favorite month of the year. It feels to me like the month of sweet endings and fresh starts. Summer’s over and autumn begins. The sundresses get pushed to the back of the closet and the sweaters are pulled out (at least here in Portland, Oregon). My birthday lands mid-month and I do the usual birthday business of contemplating what’s ahead and reflecting upon what’s behind me. This month feels particularly momentous because it marks a milestone: thirty years ago—on September 15th—I completed my hike on the Pacific Crest Trail, which seems astonishing to me because it feels both like yesterday and seven lifetimes ago.

Hiking in Sedona last fall.

I’ll be hitting the figurative and literal trail again soon, doing two days of events at the Happinez Festival in the Netherlands on September 12 and 13 and, later in the month, giving a couple of talks in Collioure, France—at Karen Karbo’s Come to Your Senses writing retreat and at the Ciné de Mondial, at a screening of Wild on September 24. I’ll then go for a long hike on the Camí de Ronda on the Costa Brava in Spain before returning to the US—with, hopefully, all ten of my toenails still intact!—to teach my weekend writing workshop at the beautiful Omega Institute. If you’re so inclined, you can join me for the in-person workshop on October 10-12 and experience the beauty that is upstate New York in autumn or register for the livestream (which you can attend in real time, watch later, or both).

Whenever I teach a writing workshop I hope to spark creative and personal awakenings in those who attend, but I invariably end up feeling sparked and awakened too. Part of it is that I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing the creation of so many powerful, funny, sad, transformative stories, but another part is that my teaching takes me away from home and going places inspires me. Travel, to me, is like a constant September. Going places gives me a sense of ending and beginning. I can’t help but contemplate what’s ahead and reflect upon what was. Travel, like September, puts us in that beautiful, complicated, middle space of this crammed up against that, which is a space that almost always wakes us up and give us a fresh perspective.

That’s one of the reasons I said yes when the folks at Let’s Meet in Alaska invited me to host a special six-night/five-day adventure/writing retreat next summer at the historic Orca Adventure Lodge, nestled between the ocean and the mountains in Cordova, Alaska. It’s unlike any retreat I’ve done before, where we’ll not only be writing, we’ll be hiking, paddling, fishing, wildlife viewing, feasting, lounging, sauna-ing and soaking up the midnight sun in a place so remote the only way you can get there is fly in or take a six-hour ferry from the mainland. I should note that none of these adventure activities are required—you can add them onto your day or leave them off, as you wish. As for the writing workshop component, we’ll gather four times over the course of the five days for sessions that last a couple of hours, so there will be a balance of creativity, adventure, and relaxation in days structured to give you options to suit your preferences.

I’ve never been to Cordova, but I’ve heard many stories about this singular, remote town on Prince William Sound, as my dear husband Brian worked at the St. Elias salmon cannery in town for eight summers to earn money as he put himself through college and film school. He’ll be there with me next summer, rediscovering an important place of his youth while I discover it anew—along with our cozy group of 20-52 people, which I hope will include some of you. If you want to learn more about this trip, click here and also watch the slideshow about it here and, if after you look at those things, you still have questions, feel free to ask me in the comments below. What I can say right now is I think it’ll be spectacular fun. Bring your family and friends. We’ll probably even make s’mores.

Wishing you all good things, as always, wherever you go.

xCheryl