June Events: A Long Leash
New events & workshops, plus applications to our Labor Day Retreat
Hi friends,
Hannah and I spent last weekend in Hudson with eight participants on our Memorial Day retreat, and even though we run the thing I’m still surprised by it every time.
We’re always talking about ways of facilitating that allow us to take part alongside the participants, and I love these retreats for the space they make for us to do just that. I get to put my phone away and write and draw and talk about writing and drawing for three days with nine other people and it’s always the reset I need.
Which is why I’m all the more excited to have our next retreat to look forward to! On Labor Day Weekend we’ll be at Hilltown Commons in Rensselaerville, NY. Apply to join us and give yourself the time to dedicate to your writing and/or drawing, no matter your experience.
For folks looking for feedback on their work and a little more accountability to finishing a draft, I’ll be leading a six-week workshop starting this Thursday, June 5th.
And later this month I’ll also be back at the Center for Fiction with two different courses— (1) Writing Without Thinking, a half-day of generative exercises, and (2) Writing Past The Page, a six-week evening class designed to integrate sustainable writing habits into your everyday life. Check below for more info on each!
As you can probably tell, it’s been a busy time! But it’s great that being busy means working with all of you and finding new ways to make things together.
—Josh
Scroll for more on upcoming events, workshops, and retreats, and for June’s creative prompt—
Events (Writing & Drawing)
This month we’re back at Book Club with a new Stage Dive, where a trio of performers tell stories that the audience uses as their writing inspiration.
Stage Dive at Book Club Bar, East Village
Wednesday, June 4th from 8-10pm (RSVP)
We're also hosting three Drink 'N Drafts—
WORD Bookstore, Greenpoint
Tuesday, June 10th from 7-9pm (RSVP)Book Club Bar, East Village
Wednesday, June 11th from 8-10pm (RSVP)Saturn Road, Cobble Hill
Wednesday, June 25th from 7:30-9:30pm (RSVP)
And our next drawing night at Interference Archive in Park Slope—
Interference Archive, Park Slope
Sunday, June 22nd from 5-7pm (RSVP)
Workshops
We’re running three workshops this month, each designed for writers at all levels of experience—
Little Nights Writing Workshop (Six Weeks)
A weekly class to give and receive feedback on drafts. Each writer has two opportunities to submit up to 5K words for the group to read and discuss.
Crown Heights (exact location shared after registering)
Thursdays, June 4th - July 10th from 7-8:30pm
Writing Without Thinking (Half-Day)
A half-day of generative writing exercises designed to jump-start the creative process and introduce new ways of thinking less and writing more.
Center for Fiction, Fort Greene
Saturday, June 21st from 12-4:30pm
Writing Past The Page (6 Weeks)
In-class prompts, discussion, and ongoing assignments to help build a more sustainable writing routine and integrate it into your daily life.
Center for Fiction, Fort Greene
Mondays, June 30th - August 4th from 6-8pm
Retreats
We’re excited to be partnering with Hilltown Commons this upcoming Labor Day Weekend (8/29 - 9/1) to host our next creative retreat on their beautiful, historic grounds.
Hilltown Commons is a dynamic 501(c)(3) nonprofit campus set on 100 acres of rolling hills in Rensselaerville, New York. They are a home for lifelong learners, creative thinkers, and curious hearts—where education, the humanities, and a deep sense of place come together to nourish both mind and spirit.
For three days and nights we’ll be writing, drawing, and exercising all those creative muscles we rarely have the time and space to activate in our everyday lives.
Unlike other residencies, you don’t have to be a writer or an artist to join. You don’t need a portfolio or a writing sample. You don’t even need to have any experience writing or drawing. All you need is to want to spend a few days focused on your creative practice, and an interest in doing that work in a small community of others.
June’s Prompt
This month’s exercise comes from, I think, the American visual artist and teacher John Baldessari. I can’t find where he said it, or anyone else to attribute it to, but it’s in my notes as his and from everything else I’ve read about him it feels like something he’d assign! The exercise is simple:
“Use a helicopter, somehow.”
I’ve used this prompt with writers of all ages and it’s often both the most fun and results in the greatest variety of outcomes.
It’s almost nothing—four words are so close to zero words!—but since (1) one of those words is ‘helicopter’ and (2) ‘helicopter’ is such a good word, full of sound and weight and associations and (3) you’re given such a long leash for how you might use it, what you make of it is only limited by how creative you feel today.
How creative do you feel today? Set a time for eight minutes and use a helicopter, somehow.
