Heckenlaible attends writing retreat in Leavenworth, Washington
Article draws attention of NWP editor
by Cindy Heckenlaible, Vermillion High School
I attended the NWP Professional Writing Retreat A held in Leavenworth, Washington, August 3-6. The setting was this fabulous mountain retreat nestled in the pines at the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. That alone was an inspiration to write. In fact, all participants with whom I spoke indicated that the setting was fantastic despite the additional traveling time needed to get to our destination.
I really had no expectations as far as how our time would be spent; I just knew that we would be busy. The good news was that we had very large blocks of time to write, and we had access to three coordinators, Carol Tateishi, Nancy McCracken, and Eileen Simmons, as well as Art Peterson, editor of NWP’s The Quarterly. Thursday evening was spent going over expectations and getting to know one another. We also briefly introduced our ideas for our articles. Fifteen women and five men who taught everything from kindergarten to college-level students comprised our group.
Friday and Saturday
In some ways I had an advantage over most of the participants because I had come with a paper already written, as part of some graduate work I did last spring. Most came only with ideas that needed to be fleshed out in order to evolve into an article. Each of us was assigned a writing response group; my group was exceptional. We all taught high school students; one was even a math teacher. We really were able to offer and receive helpful suggestions to guide us toward a finished piece. Because my article was farther along, I was able to hook up early with Nancy McCracken so she could direct my writing. She was so positive and offered some critical advice which refocused my piece for publication. I would say that I probably had to rework about one third to one half of my original writing. I met with Nancy twice before I felt I was ready to submit my article to Art. He was busy with another writer, so I sought out Eileen to get her feedback. She was so positive and felt that what I wrote had real potential for publication. Wow, that was so gratifying. It’s always a risk to share writing with someone who has the potential to say “yes” or “no.” I was a bundle of nerves when I met with Art, but he was so supportive. We discussed a few areas where I could enhance the piece, but he told me that he felt teachers needed to hear what I had to share. His final suggestions were fairly straight forward and easily doable.
Even with all of the positive response, I still thought that actually publishing this piece would be some time in the distance, but that night during our final full-group meeting, Art came up to me and said, “I want your piece.” For me that was such a validation of what I do in my classroom. It’s a struggle sometimes to feel appreciated when so many groups out there are telling us what failures we are as teachers. I came away feeling personal satisfaction and a desire to continue to look for teaching practices that will ultimately benefit my students.
I want to thank DWP for the opportunity and the funding I needed to attend. For those of you who don’t feel that you have something to contribute, throw that idea out the window. Santa Fe is calling your name for next year’s retreat. Oh, and by the way, if the writing retreat isn’t enticing enough for you, the food is reason enough to go:)!
