Writing at Whiteley

This is my third writing retreat at the Whiteley Center, a refuge for established scholars and artists to study, write, create, and interact in a peaceful and quiet environment. The center is associated with University of Washington’s Friday Harbor Laboratories, located on the eastern shores of San Juan Island in the Salish Sea.

To those of you who have been here or would like to come, I send you writerly vibes from my well-lit cottage on a dark December night.

One of the many attributes that makes this place special is the pool of creative energy that springs from the wooden table where I now work. How many people have sat at this very table reporting on research projects, crafting books, channeling poems, drafting prose—listening for distractions that will come only from within?

When the muse gets tired, as she inevitably does, it’s time to take a walk on an emerald bluff, maybe grab a pastry on the way back through town.

Then we’ll be here again, at the wooden table, trying to spin the sea into words.