A Room of One's Own

This weekend we held our first annual #QueerMo #NaNoWriMo Retreat, and was it productive!

For those who don’t know, November is National Novel Writing Month. Last November one of my closest friends dared me to write a lesbian romance novel in November and I did. That’s how I fell in love with my sweetie, but that’s a whole ’nother story for another day. It’ll be published soon. Promise.

Anyway, we added the #QueerMo to it because we at Cupcake Manor—the retreat house in the Hudson River Valley where we live—have been, in one form or another, encouraging queer artists for more than 30 years.

So I am delighted to announce that amongst the four of us who retreated into sacred creative space this weekend, we produced 7,342 words, four complete songs (music and lyrics), and a submission to “Modern Love” in The New York Times. Ta-Da!!!

It just goes to show you that Virginia Woolf was right. She contended that every woman who wanted to write needed an independent income and “a room of one’s own.” Of course, we expand that to every artist.

In conversation over scrumptious meals, we all agreed that finding time to write, to compose, to be creative at all, we need to step out of the quotidian round of daily detail. Otherwise, in our own homes, we see closets that need clearing out, recycling that needs taking out, dogs that need walking, partners that need loving, and—wait for it—the ubiquitous screens of our lives that screech at us for attention. Consider: phones, televisions, tablets, laptops, computers, video games? Need I go on?

We’re committed to making sacred creative space available three and a half hours from Boston, one and a half hours from New York City, and however far you need to travel to get to Cupcake Manor. We see our task as one of setting you free of the mundane details so you can soar with your own creative muses.

Consider this a standing invitation to two days and nights to jump-start or continue or finish your project, and if you need/want editorial counsel, there’s an on-site editor with more than thirty years experience. Or if you need/want spiritual guidance, there’s an on-site intuitive with more than thirty years experience.

The fee for this invaluable creative freedom is $250 per person, and we never turn anyone away because of money. Call us—we’ll figure it out.

In the meantime, we four charter #QueerMo #NaNoWriMo folk will keep writing, composing, singing and generally kicking up our creative heels because we love it.