Soule: Consorting With Writers Instead of Cattle

It is my special joy to write about farm life for you each week. I get to share the wonder of calf birth and the sorrow and self-doubt when one of my animals dies. I want to be a better farmer, but I also want to be a better writer, so I spent last weekend with 24 other writers, the Ocean View Writing Getaway, run by Murphy Writing. Affiliated with Stockton University, this outfit cultivates and encourages writers. We met at the Atlantic City campus and stayed in college dorms.

Peter Murphy, an award-winning poet and founder of Murphy Writing, told us during the three-day workshop, "You think the work is done with your first draft, but it's more like giving birth. Hard work starts after the baby is born." He's right! In my case, a first draft is like the birth of a calf that needs to be bottle-fed or given antibiotics to survive. Even John Steinbeck didn't write perfect prose in the first draft. And I'm not John Steinbeck.

To help us become better writers, instructor and published author Anndee Hochman taught my group how to polish our creative nonfiction while Peter Murphy taught the others about poetry – something I keep clear of.

Anndee is the author of Anatomies: A Novella and Stories, as well as Everyday Acts & Small Subversions: Women Reinventing Family, Community, and Home. Her writing has appeared everywhere, including in the New York Times Book Review. In short, she knew her stuff and was the right coach for me.

Peter welcomed all 24 writers on Thursday night and told us that this weekend would encourage new ideas and fresh writing. Wow, did he get that right!

On the first day, I decided to write about something I had never written before, something not about farming.

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Carole Soule is co-owner of Miles Smith Farm in Loudon where she raises and sells beef, pork, lamb, eggs and other local products. She can be reached at carolesoule60@gmail.com.