Writing and Spirituality Seminars
 

This seminar is designed for people ready to move beyond the unstructured creativity of journal writing, to tackle a portion of their life experience by writing memoir, autobiography, essay or fiction.

Session topics include: articulation, metaphoric reality, structure of creative nonfiction, writing about time, place, self, and others. The seminar is held within a circle that invites conversation, supportive critique, open reading and celebrations of the word.

Christina has taught this course for more than a dozen years, and over a dozen books have been published by former students. Open to both men and women, and held in serene retreat settings, this is a special time to honor your creativity.

DATES CURRENTLY SCHEDULED:

DECEMBER 2-8, 2008
The Marsh House
Whidbey Island, Washington

Location:
Located 30 miles north of Seattle, Whidbey Island provides a delightful retreat setting for this seminar. Participants will be housed in the lush green stillness of the Maxwelton valley in a facility of gardens, nooks and crannies, great food and the support of tall trees. Full travel information is available upon registration.

Cost:
$1200.00 includes tuition, individual consultation, room and board. Early bird registration of $1150.00 is available -- contact the PeerSpirit office for more information.

Registration:
Class size limited to 16. Writers at various stages of project development and confidence welcome. Please register for Self as Source through the PeerSpirit office.




To honor Christina and Ann's book contract schedule for 2008, the Alumni class will not be held until 2009. Christina will be available on a limited basis for Write Coaching (by phone) over the summer.

THE SELF AS SOURCE ALUMNI GROUP
with Christina Baldwin

Self as Source Alumni Group is an opportunity to revisit the content of this fine memoir class now that alumni writers are deep enough into their projects to have encountered the challenges that were theoretical at the beginning.

This seminar is an opportunity for long, uninterrupted periods of writing, interspersed with creative and problem solving sessions using each other's manuscripts to learn from. The days will start with a circle of checking-in and responses to questions we are living with, writing time in a community of supportive silence, late afternoon sessions, and evenings by the fireplace listening to each other's words.

Please call the PeerSpirit office to set up a brief interview with Christina and placement into this luscious circle of writers. We generally meet on Whidbey Island at the Marsh House, in lush, green, sweater-weather winter.

Dates: 
To be announced

Location: 
The Marsh House on Whidbey Island, Washington (see description above in Self as the Source)

Registration: 
Limited to 12 alumni of Self as the Source

Cost: 
$1300.00 includes tuition, lodging (single or double rooms), and all meals. Early bird registration of $1250.00 available. Please register through the PeerSpirit office.

THE SPIRIT AND THE PEN: A SACRED CREATIVE WRITING JOURNEY
with Christina Baldwin
Easter Weekend, March 21-23, 2008

Join Christina for 3 days of creative writing and reflection in the beauty of the Columbia River Gorge. With Christina's lifelong passion for transforming experience into story, participants will learn how to make story of the connection between the human soul and the natural world.

The retreat will be held at the Menucha Retreat and Conference Center, located inside the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. The seclusion of Menucha is perfect for deep immersion into writing and reflective space. Magnificent views and natural flora grace the 100-acre grounds. Trails take you through the woods, into a creek canyon and along a bluff top of the Gorge. This facility offers a quiet and secluded environment in close proximity to Portland.

People with all degrees of writing experience are welcome.

Dates: Friday, March 21 - Sunday (Easter Sunday), March 23, 2008. An optional Easter Community Sunrise Service will be held at the retreat site for those who would like to attend, with Christina. The workshop will continue after the service, and end after lunch.

Location:  The Menucha Retreat and Conference Center is located in Corbett, Oregon, which is 22 miles east of Portland off of Interstate 84.

Cost: Earlybird registrations (before Feb. 15) will be $120 for the workshop, plus lodging. Registrations after Feb. 15 will be $145, plus lodging. A variety of room types are available, please contact the Menucha Center for details. Six meals are included with the accommodations, beginning with dinner on Friday and extending through lunch on Sunday.

Registration:  For more information, or to register, please contact Scott Crane, Program Director of Menucha Retreat & Conference Center at 503-695-2243 or via email at office@menucha.org.

EAST WEST BOOKSHOP PRESENTS
AN EVENING WITH CHRISTINA BALDWIN
March 26, 2008

In celebration of the new edition of Life's Companion and the paperback release of Storycatcher, Christina will be at East West Bookshop in Seattle for a reading and mini writing workshop! Bring a journal or just a pen & pad of paper and learn about mapping YOUR story.

Date & Time: Wednesday, March 26, 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

Location:  East West Bookshop, 6500 Roosevelt Way NE, Seattle WA

Cost: FREE!

More Information:  Download an event flyer here (PDF). For more information, call East West Bookshop at 1-800-587-6002 or locally at 206-523-3726.

JOURNAL CONFERENCE 2008: THE POWER OF WRITING
June 18-21, 2008

Kathleen Adams, founder of the Center for Journal Therapy, is the producer of this national conference celebrating the power of writing for healing, creative self discovery, and life story writing. She will be joined by Christina Baldwin, James Pennebaker & Tristine Rainer as the 4 keynote speakers at the conference, which will take place in Denver. There will be dozens of pre/post conference workshops and breakout sessions with other authors and experts (including PeerSpirit's Ann Linnea!).

Participants will be allowed to choose ONE of the keynote speakers (James Pennebaker, Christina Baldwin, Tristine Rainer) or the poet Michael Blumenthal to study with in breakout session. When registering, please indicate your first and second choice.  Space in these breakout workshops will be limited, and it's first-register, first-reserved.

Friends of PeerSpirit will want to take special note of Christina and Ann's participation in the conference:

As a keynote speaker, Christina's speech is entitled "Restorying the World: How Journal Writing Can Heal the Future." As she says, "Story is the suspension between the world we know and the world coming. JUMP - first into words, and then into action." Her presentation will offer inspiration and tools to use journal writing for personal and social change.

Christina will also offer a breakout session called "The Thread We Follow: How Story Creates Life and How to Create the Life We Want Through Story." Participants will learn how to "honor the truth of our lives and apply the skills of linking, editing, disorganizing, and revisioning in order to create powerful stories of life purpose."

Ann will be offering two sessions of a pre-conference workshop entitled "Writing Nature's Wisdom" during the day on June 18th. Participants will be taken by bus to Genesee Park in the Rocky Mountains for this outdoor writing experience.

Journal Conference Dates & Times:  
Wednesday, June 18 - Saturday, June 21, 2008

Location:
Sheraton Denver West, Lakewood, Colorado

Cost:
Cost for the full conference (from the opening reception on Wednesday night through adjournment Saturday noon) for those who register early (through December 10, 2007) is $325. Accommodations are extra - see below. After December 10th, the full conference cost goes up to $360.

Pre-conference workshops are EXTRA - $40 each, and $60 each for Ann's "Writing Nature's Wisdom" sessions (because of the added cost of bus transportation to the mountains).

Registration:
Registrations are being handled through a special website created for the conference. Please register now for the best rates AND your choice of breakout keynoter! Visit the event web site for more information on the conference.

Accommodations:
Can be reserved at any time at the Sheraton Denver West in Lakewood, CO by going to the Journal conference's page at http://tinyurl.com/yntu2c.