Green Mountain Writers Conference

Introduction

Introduction | About | Accommodations

The facility where classes meet and participants share their work is a century-old dance pavilion. Each summer, writers of all ages and talents who have a story to tell, a love of poetry, a desire to share a memory or explore age-old themes of love and loss, adventure and discovery, come to the conference to listen, learn and write separately and together. Practical instruction in both the art and the business of writing is supplemented by personalized feedback, readings and group discussions. Our staff of writers spans the genres, sharing the tricks of their trade in fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, journalism, nature writing, essay, memoir, biography and publishing.

This year's staff includes:

Yvonne Daley, Howard Frank Mosher, Geof Hewitt, David Budbill, Chuck Clarino and Verandah Porche

Our writers' collaborative, Verdant Books (www.verdantbooks.com), begun this year, has been successful with the publication of Yvonne Daley's memoir, Octavia Boulevard (octaviaboulevardbook.com/) and a novel by Laird Harrison entitled Fallen Lake. By the time of the conference, a collection of memoir pieces produced by writers in Yvonne Daley's memoir class at the Gables will also be in print through Verdant Books. Several other projects are in the works. We've been working successfully directly with Shires Press, located in Manchester, Vermont. Shires Press was also the publisher of Yvonne's latest book, A Mighty Storm: Stories of Resilience After Irene (http://www.northshire.com/siteinfo/bookinfo/9781605711294/0/), published in late December, 2011.

Over the course of the next seven hours and the following days, particpants can take part in a variety of writing sessions, led by one of our professional writers. These sessions present opportunities to develop writing skills and practice them immediately, following prompts offered by the instructors. Both the staff writers and the participants will read from their work (should they so desire), and these too are learning experiences as we discuss together the writing processes and the challenges inherent to the writing life.

Of course, some writers might chose an Adirondack chair situated lakeside or under a tamarack tree instead of the classroom for an hour or so, to work on a piece in process or follow a new idea. After all, there's inspiration to be found on Tinmouth Pond, watching the ducks circle about or small fish jump from the water. Here, the poet might suddenly discover the right image for a poem she has been struggling to finish for months and a memoir writer might contemplate a scene from the past and suddenly the memory returns whole and is quickly captured on the page held in the writer's lap.

That's the kind of place The Green Mountain Writers' Conference is. Think of it as summer camp for writers -- an opportunity for you to escape the demands of everyday life and immerse yourself in the magic of creating poems, stories and essays. Some people spend the week soaking up as much guidance as they can from our staff while others use some of their time for private introspection and writing. And when the weather is particularly wonderful, there is always the lake -- to gaze upon, paddle in, swim across or write about. The conference site is, in and of itself, conducive to freeing the mind from the stresses and troubles of contemporary life.

Why Vermont?

Throughout time, Vermont has attracted more than its share of the nation's best and most interesting writers. The reasons for this are many and complex but, as participants at our conference have experienced over the 15 years that we have been in existence, that combination of rural beauty and tolerant community so richly found in this small state snuggled into America's far northeast is a fine prescription for breaking through writer's block, restoring confidence, and developing the skills needed to turn thoughts and ideas into stories and poems.

Who comes to the Green Mountain Writers Conference?

We use the terms "emerging" and "developing" to describe the kind of writers who find our conference most useful and enjoyable. Many writers come to us with a desire to write, a longing to write and some natural talent. At the same time, they might feel stalled in their progress or don't know how to approach new material. Other participants need some basic tools to get started or feedback on what they have been struggling to express in the isolation of their notebooks and computers. These are emerging writers.

Others have had some success in their writing endeavors and wish to grow their skills and share the challenges of the writers' life with others who appreciate a good tale, an engaging poem, a thoughtful memoir. These are developing writers.

We welcome both.

We also welcome writers who simply seek confirmation of their right to their material and those who want to garner a few necessary tools to record a family story or a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Simultaneously, our conference provides tools and inspirations for those who want to use their gift for writing to tell real stories of the people and events in their community whether it's feature stories for their local newspaper or books about subjects they have studied and cared about.

We are a practical lot. Although several of the staff members are university professors, we are less likely to explore the theory of character and plot development than we are the techniques of plot and character development. Likewise, although we will spend time talking about the business of writing and will provide tips for working with agents and editors as well as self-publishing, no agents are on our staff. This is not to say that participants are not interested in getting published -- indeed, each year several of our participants complete projects that get published. But publishing is not our primary concern. Indeed, our primary concern is simply to nourish and support people who love to write and help them to express themselves more clearly and artfully.

How does it work?

Each day begins with a writing exercise -- a mental warm-up designed to get the creative juices flowing. Conference Director Yvonne Daley leads many of these exercises, which are designed to illustrate some basic element of the craft of writing. Through instant feedback and group discussion, participants learn from one another as well as the staff and gain confidence to try new techniques and push themselves beyond their comfort levels. The morning exercise is routinely followed by more structured sessions -- often one in prose and the other in poetry, offered simultaneously -- led by one of the staff writers. These sessions routinely include close instruction, time for participants to practice what they have just learned, writing for twenty minutes to a half hour, then returning to share, should they wish, their jottings. Writers with works in progress sometimes find these sessions useful to open up and expand their on-going projects. Other writers find these prompts produce surprising outcomes in both subject matter and format. Each session provides ample opportunity for group and individual feedback.

After a hearty, healthy and delicious lunch, crafted by the most creative person on our staff, our chef Claire Clarino, participants have time to swim, take a short walk or visit, followed by a public reading by one or two of the conference attendees. The afternoon sessions include more structured classes either preceded by or followed by readings and discussions by our staff writers. Question and answer periods allow developing writers to place their own struggles in context with those faced by people who have made a living as writers.

After a snack break, there is usually time for conference attendees to read excerpts from their work. Throughout the week, we provide time for these shared reading sessions so that most participants, should they wish, can read aloud from something they have completed or are working on. However, because this is writers' camp for adults, there is no obligation to read aloud. Some people do; others prefer not to. Both are perfectly fine. We discovered last year that the participants are inherently good teachers. Several times during the week this year, we will divide ourselves into small groups and work together, reading and responding to one another's work.

  What's new this year?

Three wonderful writers, Geof Hewitt, Howard Frank Mosher and David Budbill, are returning to us after a few years in which we haven't heard their work or learned from their lessons while novelist Castle Freeman of Newfane, Vermont, will join us for the first time. (See their biographies on this site.) Serendipity is a wonderful thing. Conference director Yvonne Daley had already hired Vermont writer Castle Freeman after reading some of his books. Turns out we were both using our words to raise money for people who sustained losses during Tropical Storm Irene. While Daley's efforts, a book entitled A Mighty Storm: Stories of Resilience After Irene, had raised roughly $30,000 for three Irene benefits in the first month of its publication, Freeman and his publisher, The Concord Free Press, partnered with Kodak on the Round Mountain Project in which they are publishing a special, free paperback editionof his book, Round Mountain, to encourage donations to Irene relief organizations. The Project sends a free copy to those readers who promise to donate to a fund to a cause the reader believes in. Freeman, who writes about Vermont in short stories, novels and magazine essays, will offer a workshop for fiction and nonfiction writers on tools to creating fully developed, engaging characters.

Howard Frank Mosher, whom many of you know from his fabulous (in several meanings of the word) novels, many of them set in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, and his recent memoir, The Great Northern Express (www.randomhouse.com/book/117911/the-great-northern-express-by-howard-frank-mosher). This year, Mosher will be sharing a new short story with us entitled White Knights and he'll give a talk on the evolution of a story, with examples from his new work and lots of practical tips for creating engaging plots and characters. For those of you who haven't met Howard, who lives in the Kingdom town of Irasburg, you are in for a treat. He is a verifiable Vermont character himself, delightful, impish and talented to boot.

The last time David Budbill, who lives in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, was at the conference, he was in the midst of writing his newest play, "Papa." Now, he's fresh from the recent success of his latest collection of poetry, "Happy Life," published by Copper Canyon Press. The book quickly rose to the New York Times' Best Sellers List in the poetry division. In his workshop, Budbill will share his ability to write poems on many levels with us, poems that translate well in the oral form as heard frequently on Garrison Keillor's Writer's Almanac on National Public Radio and on the page.

Geof Hewitt lives in Calais, VT. In 2010 Mayapple Press published his most recent book, The Perfect Heart: Selected and New Poems. Although Hewitt boasts that he is Vermont's reigning poetry-slam champion (a title he has held since 2004, the year of Vermont's most recent championship bout) he maintains that he writes for the page, adapting samples of his work for performance. As he has in previous years, Hewitt will get us off to a good start with a fun writing exercise guaranteed to bring out your creative (and sometimes whacky) side and also lead a poetry workshop.

Verandah Porche of Guilford, VT., will be with us for most of the week again, not only leading writing workshops that may turn a few prose writers into poetry and show the poets the power of word play, but she'll also be available for one-on-one meetings with writers. Ms. Porche, who has a new CD out and whose play was recently produced in Guildford, will also share with us her new poems and songs.

Chuck Clarino of Rutland, VT.,has spent the winter crafting new stories and essays on family life, living in rural Vermont and writing for the Rutland Herald. His workshop will focus this year on using anecdotal leads in personal profiles.

Yvonne Daley

Last year, I talked about starting a writers collective aimed at bringing quality works of prose and poetry to print and online publication. It's happened. Our new venture, Verdant Books, is still in its infancy but we are on our way with the publication of "Octavia Boulevard," and other works in the offing. I'll be posting more news as it occurs.

About the conference

Introduction | About | Accommodations

A bookstore will operate for an hour at lunch and again at the end of the day at which we will sell some of the works of the writers in the program. We'll have the work of our writers as well as some other Vermont authors for sale.

Accommodations

Introduction | About | Accommodations

What's the area like?

Tinmouth is a very rural community located in west-central Vermont about 20 miles southwest of Rutland, the state's third-largest city. There's an airport in Rutland served by JetBlue through Cape Air, but it's small and may not be convenient to all of you. If you are traveling by plane, there are numerous larger airports serviced by all the major airlines and within a few hours' drive. Check flights to Burlington, Vt;, Albany, N.Y., Boston, and Manchester, N.H. We can arrange transportation to and from any of these airports at $100 (more for Boston) a trip and carpooling to the conference from Rutland can be arranged for participants without cars and possibly from the bed and breakfast inns in the area. There is as of this winter still Amtrak service to Rutland. Visitors from afar often rent a car upon arrival as the region is rural and has little public transportation. On the other hand, there are few places on the planet that are prettier than Vermont in high summer. And, with so many historic and natural resources in the region, some people try to spend either the weekend before or after the conference exploring Vermont at its best. Among the towns located nearby are Manchester, which has several dozen outlets and a wonderful bookstore with an Espresso book publishing machine; Rutland, the county seat with many restaurants, a movie theater, farmers' market and weekend entertainment; Killington, the ski giant of the East, which in summer offers great hiking and several world-class hotels; Brandon, home of the folk artist Warren Kimble and artist Lisa Myers. Further north, Burlington on Lake Champlain boasts the Church Street Marketplace and the Shelburne Museum. In Waterbury, you can tour the Ben & Jerry factory and fill up with the full-fat treatment of Cherry Garcia or Chunky Monkey. Throughout the state, you'll find lovely state parks, historical sites, quaint villages and hiking trails.

Where do out-of-towners stay?

We have made arrangements with a major hotel in nearby Rutland and two area bed and breakfast inns for special accommodations and rates for conference participants. You must make your own reservations.

The Holiday Inn at Rutland is setting aside a few rooms for conference attendees at a reduced rate, based on availability. Please mention the conference to get the reduced rate. You can reserve a room at 802-775-1911. Holiday Inn has a restaurant, pool, etc. and is close to other restaurants, a short distance from downtown Rutland and about 20 minutes from the conference site by car. We'll arrange car-pooling for you if you don't drive.

There are several excellent bed and breakfast/inns within a few miles of the conference; several offer a fifth night free for conference attendees. Make sure to inquire.

The White Rocks Inn on Route 7 in Wallingford is a lovely possibility.The elegant Greek Revival farmhouse on a historic dairy farm has five guest rooms in the main house, plus two secluded and private cottages. In summer, the broad side porch serves as a gathering place where guests can sip lemonade or iced tea as they gaze across the meadows and fields or across the valley to the Green Mountains. Breakfast is served in the dining room or in the crisp outdoors on a warm Vermont summer morning. It's operated by Will and Leigh Quigley. Rates run from $150 to $210 (fifth night free). Two cottage rents for $1440 to $1495 for up to seven days for two people. You can reach them at 802-446 2077 or 866-446-2077 or by e-mail at info@whiterocksinn.com

The Quail's Nest Inn in Danby, another nearby community, has four guest rooms at reasonable costs (from $96 to $116 a night.) With the Green Mountain National Forest as a backdrop, The Quail's Nest, circa 1835, is a Greek Revival-style bed and breakfast, located on Main Street in the center of Danby Village, home of Vermont's first millionaire. Each room has its own bathroom. There's a well-stocked library, an outside patio with table and umbrella and guest living room. The inn is owned by Terry and Chris Hardaway. You can view the inn and rooms at www.quailsnestbandb.com or email them at info@quailsnestbandb.com. The phone number is 802-293-5099 or 800-599-6444.

The Silas Griffin Inn, also in Danby, is located in the home built by Vermont's first millionaire, Silas Griffith, in 1891 as a wedding present for his wife. Along with original features such as carved cherry woodwork, birch floors, embossed tin ceilings and stained-glass windows, the inn has a swimming pool and spa that it operates in summer, picnic tables and benches on its 10-acre property, and a sizeable library. Innkeepers Cathy and Brian Preble serve a hearty breakfast to inn guests. Emma's, the inn's restaurant located in the orignal carriage house on the property, is open to the public Thursday through Sunday. All rooms have private baths and fireplaces, air conditioning and Internet access and are decorated with Victorian period furnishings. Rates start at $129 a night; one room has twin beds while another has a king-sized bed that can be split to serve two guests. There is also a two-bedroom suite available. You can view the inn and rooms at www.silasgriffith.com or email them at silasgriffith.com

In addition, information on local camps, cottages located along Tinmouth Pond and around the town of Tinmouth, and camping grounds is available upon request.

There's plenty to do here during your free time -- movies, hikes, bird-watching,canoeing and exploring the Green Mountains. Please bring comfortable clothing and shoes. We are casual. Plan for all sorts of weather with a slicker, bathing suit, sweatshirt and shorts. Chipman Lake (The natives sometimes call it Tinmouth Pond) is a private lake bordered by a couple dozen cabins. It's great for canoeing if you want to bring a small canoe or kayak. Swimming and boating are at your own risk.