Henry Miller Memorial Library

You can read it here.

It’s very nice of them, particularly this line,”what I love about this conference is the small writer-to-faculty ratio, which is 5 to 1 or less, with a guarantee you’ll work closely with at least three different faculty. ”

And it’s true. Unlike other conferences, where you sit and listen to panels and lectures – nothing wrong with that, of course – the Big Sur Writing Workshop is hands-on and intensive. If you don’t mind getting your hands a little dirty, then it will be very rewarding.

You may also notice some really nice comment on the Literary Rambles post, such as:

* “I’ve attended in the past and loved it. This is a great workshop. I can’t make it this year but I’ll try to put it on my list for next year. Thanks for the reminder!”

* “I’ve always wanted to attend this conference. Big Sur is so beautiful, and it’s a fantastic writing opportunity.”

We didn’t pay’em to write that!

Anyway, spots are filling up – deadline is February 20th – so you can still register here.

The project I am working on is a non-linear, non-academic, surrealistic ‘call and response’ to the archive I inherited from Emil and the ideas and principles it contains.

So much of the correspondence and Miller’s writing from the Paris letters refers to the ‘future’ and some very directly to the new millennia. From WikiLeaks, the Barry Manning trial, the Occupy Movement, the election rhetoric, Arab spring, I’m hearing voices make a collective call to take freedom of speech to a new level – one where listening is reinstated as an alternative to tyranny, where dialogue, conversation, negotiation may supplant war and suppression, delete and mute, as a means of holding power. ‘

Is this the destruction creation cycle Miller preached, the Oneness of the Vedas he shared with Emil? Given that I heard the word conversation at least 8 times in a 3-minute radio interview yesterday, all indications are that we are looking for ways to transmit and receive in a free world.

Check out Kathleen’s site here.

The Big Sur Writing Workshop is March 2-4, 2012 at the Embassy Suites in Seaside, CA.  You can register by going here.

One of the great things about it is the many success stories that have come from the workshop – authors meeting agents, and agents getting authors publishing deals.  So needless to say, we were tickled to find this in our in-box this morning from alumni Tamara Ireland Stone:
**

I always love reading the success stories you compile, and I’ve been meaning to write to you to share mine.

I attended the Big Sur Writing Workshop in December 2010, where I had the opportunity to work with my agent, Caryn Wiseman. Three months later, my time travel romance, TIME BETWEEN US, sold at auction in a two book, six-figure deal to Lisa Yoskowitz of Disney-Hyperion. Since then, Caryn has closed deals nine countries, solid audio rights, and my story has been optioned for film. Suffice it to say, it’s been quite a year for this newbie author!

Personally, I had such an incredible weekend in Big Sur, and I can’t say enough about the value of the experience. The workshops were intense, but everyone was so incredibly supportive. I left that weekend on a cloud—feeling encouraged, inspired, and with a much stronger story thanks to the feedback I received from faculty and peers. I’m so excited to learn that both Caryn and Lisa will be on faculty at the March workshop.

The attendees are so incredibly lucky to have access to these two people—they will give kind feedback, brilliant advice, and demand the kind of greatness that creates a much better writer.

Thanks again for all you do, Magnus. We writers are so lucky to have you and the Henry Miller Library.”

Warm regards,
Tamara Ireland Stone