A Weekend of Writing At The Shore

Every early January, poets, memoirists and novelists from the Jersey Shore region leave behind their loved ones, their jobs, pets and the dirty dishes, to “get away” for a weekend of writing bliss at the shore.

Right now, last-minute revisions are getting finished up, peers’ works are being read and critiqued, and bags are getting packed as more than 200 writers, seasoned and budding ones, are preparing for the 19th annual Winter Poetry and Prose Getaway retreat with Peter Murphy, which this year will take place at the Seaside View hotel in Atlantic City, on Jan. 13 – 16 and, in a partnership with Stockton College, will feature Pulitzer-prize winning poet and Stockton professor of creative writing Steven Dunn.

Ten established poets, including Dunn, eight prose fiction and non-fiction authors and an experienced Ireland-based songwriter, Nancy Falkow, will lead workshops on just about every genre and aspect of writing, from song lyrics to novels, creative non-fiction and children’s writing; from getting started to revising completed works.

Peter Murphy of Ventnor, author of two books of poetry with works published in American and international literary magazines, started these workshops by accident nineteen years ago.

“I had a hard time finding time to write,” said Murphy, who was a high school English teacher in Atlantic City for 29 years. “So I decided in 1990 that I would create my own artist colony. I did it for the weekend and I decided I’d do it again. Some people said, ‘I wish I could go with you.’ So I invited them along.”

Over the years Murphy expanded his retreat to include other locations, from Sea Isle City and Bridgewater here in New Jersey, to New England and even his native North Wales in United Kingdom.

“One of our trademarks is ‘get away to write,’ because when you do that you are sort of able to free yourself temporarily from the restrictions of your regular life,” Murphy said. “You’re able to see the word in a new way. That’s why [at these retreats], I also encourage people to take imaginative risks, to write in a way they’ve never done before.”

This year’s poetry workshop, which Murphy will lead, will start like all the others at 9 a.m., with the attendees receiving poetry to ponder and discuss, along with a mysterious writing prompt, which Murphy said is “top secret,” to launch the poets right into writing.

“For me it can take years to write a poem,” said Barbara Edelhouser of Toms River, who attended last year’s workshop and is coming back again. “I had one poem I started ten years ago, and then it finally came to fruition now, as a result of something my son’s girlfriend said. I’m also a scientist by profession, so I kind of write on the side and rather infrequently.” And yet, Edelhouser contended that being at the workshop, which she called “a writing bubble” seemed to change everything for her. “It’s extraordinary for me to write a poem
in three hours of thinking on the subject.”

“I am writing all the time, so I am used to just plugging along,” said Sandy Gringas of Beach Haven, who writes gift books, poetry and novels and comes back to the Getaway workshops year after year. “Still, the workshop gives me a shot in the arm of motivation and inspiration. Most people don’t think of the Jersey Shore as a creative place, but more of a ‘beachy’ place. And yet we have this writing community in South Jersey that is really vibrant and alive, and I love being a part of it."

For more information on the cost, faculty, workshops still available and success stories of writers and poets who have attended in the past, visit: http://wintergetaway.com/

A prompt from a pro.

Here is the sort of prompt participants of this year’s poetry workshop will receive at the start of their experience. This one is from last year, and is featured in a collection of Murphy’s prompts, “Challenges for the Delusional,” an anthology of Murphy’s zany writing prompts, culled over the last eighteen years, and the published poems they inspired.

Drop an insect (or a couple billion insects) into a poem about forgiveness or revenge, without mentioning the concept of by name. 

Whether you’re an experienced writer, a dabbler, or just a poet at heart, I invite you to try it. The results might just surprise you!