Residency at Rivendell Writers’ Colony

2015-05-19 13.10.15Part of me would like to keep this place a secret, but I have a lot of writer friends who would love Rivendell Writers’ Colony, so that wouldn’t be very nice. Rivendell has only been open a couple of years. In fact, I first heard about it when I was last at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, which was 2013, and it was only then getting started. I applied for this spring, and here I am, in the middle of a two-week residency. If you need some distraction-free time in a gorgeous setting to get some writing done, you should look into it.

Pictured above is Rivendell Manor, a 100-year-old house near Sewanee, TN, on the Cumberland Plateau, that has been beautifully restored, 2015-05-19 09.27.09complete with amazing shared areas and very comfortable bedrooms/studios. And if you can keep from gazing out the window at the amazing views (the house sits on a bluff overlooking “Lost Cove”), you might actually get some work done. (This picture at the right is taken from my studio.) There are also living/work spaces in a few cottages on the expansive, wooded property.

2015-05-19 13.16.27Although there is no formal connection with the University of the South, which is a little over 2 miles away, there certainly is cooperation (use of library, the gym, etc., is available), and as it happens all five of the writers currently in residence have attended the writers’ conference there, 4 of us as fellows.

And what, you non-writers might ask, does one do at a writers’ colony? Write, ideally. And I am writing. And editing. I have a nearly completed manuscript of a novel and I aim to finish the manuscript while I’m here so I can send it to my “beta reader” in early June to get feedback. While I could do the same thing at home, there are too many distractions there and I really need to immerse myself in the writing in order to get the book done.

Speaking of which, back to work.

About the author

I am the author of three novels--THE LAST BIRD OF PARADISE, OLIVER'S TRAVELS, and THE SHAMAN OF TURTLE VALLEY--and three story collections--IN AN UNCHARTED COUNTRY, HOUSE OF THE ANCIENTS AND OTHER STORIES, and WHAT THE ZHANG BOYS KNOW, winner of the Library of Virginia Literary Award for Fiction. I am also the co-founder and former editor of Prime Number Magazine and the editor of the award-winning anthology series EVERYWHERE STORIES: SHORT FICTION FROM A SMALL PLANET.

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