Hedgebrook

How could I not know that Hedgebrook is located on Whidbey Island?  Honestly, all these years living in the Seattle area, and I have to hear about this in passing from a woman at work?  Hurrah for wonderful colleagues!  In any case, where are all the hard core feminists?  Gloria Steinem's a part of the project, for goodness sake!

End rant.

Anyway, in case you don't know, Hedgebrook is a writer's "retreat" (according to Steinem, it is isn't a retreat but "an advance."  Oh, Gloria, you are always so beautifully eloquent) for women.  It sounds just lovely.

Taken directly from their About page, because these are writing ladies, and if they wanted me to terribly paraphrase in a late night blog post, by golly, they'd've not spent so much time making their description so gorgeous:

Mission: Hedgebrook supports visionary women writers whose stories and ideas shape our culture now and for generations to come.

THE ALCHEMY OF TIME & SPACE, SOLITUDE & COMMUNITY
Located on beautiful Whidbey Island near Seattle, Hedgebrook offers one of the few residency programs in the world exclusively dedicated to supporting the creative process of women writers, and bringing their work to the world through innovative public programs.

The gift of time and space in solitude cannot be overestimated. It is essential to a writer’s process and difficult to carve out in daily life. Having her own cottage, with meals provided, enables a writer to give full focus to her work and go deeper into her writing process.

Hedgebrook was founded on Virginia Woolf’s belief that giving a writer a room of her own is the greatest vote of confidence in her voice. What we’ve discovered in the ensuing decades is the power of community: bringing women together is equally important in nurturing and informing their voices, and emboldening them to speak.

At the end of a day of writing, all six residents come down to the farmhouse kitchen and share a meal, their stories, histories, breakthroughs and roadblocks. They give advice and feedback, and challenge each other to take risks. A community forms around the kitchen table, bonds deepen through conversation, and writers leave knowing they are part of the larger Hedgebrook community in the world.

I am going to apply to be a writer in residence, because I figure, the absolute worst thing that can happen is that the ladies say "no" (well, it could be Ruth Forman, that might be the absolute worst just because I love her so insanely much).   Anyway, getting admitted would mean that I could stay at Hedgebrook for two to six weeks for free, and just work on my poetry.  Doesn't that sound absolutely perfect?  Having an opportunity to create in unity with a bunch of talented women?

Ah~

So let's think, what do I need to get together (here's hoping it's similar to an MFA program).  Oh, wow, this looks a lot less intense than I was expecting- hurrah for saving trees by not having seventy page applications :)

So, I will need a writing sample- 10 pages all together of any genre or mixed genre or multiple genres.  I'm thinking one short story (3/4 pages) and some poetry.  Then I'll need an artistic statement- oy.  I am always bad at making myself sound good-- just say no to self-flagelation of the two-dimensional variety!

The website says that they judge submissions based on three criteria: 1) quality of writing, 2) originality of voice and strength of prose, and 3) "an eye toward diversity in all areas."  Well, anyway, it won't hurt to try-- hopefully I can at least get some feedback on my writing.  I think I better focus on my artist statements this week.  Let you know how it goes!

Due date: September 23rd!  Don't let me forget!