The Magic of Antioch

The Magic of Antioch There were 11 of us in the class…all women, except for our talented teacher. He made our number 12. For 6 days, nearly 15 hours, in fact, we discussed one another’s writings, endeavoring to make all the pieces of the puzzle, both written and unwritten, come together to make sense. No more than just make sense, make magic. We were magicians, I guess you could say. And we spent a week together at Antioch Writer’s Workshop in Yellow Springs, Ohio. For some folks, paradise is a museum vacation in a big city. For others, it might be a hunting or fishing expedition. For me and over 100 other writers, a trip to Yellow Springs to the yearly writing workshop is about as good as a getaway can be. This was my fifth time. I now have dear friends at the workshop from Ohio and beyond. We enjoy lectures from top writers in fiction, non-fiction and poetry, I pitch my creations to top agents, and I get to sample the best darned gluten-free muffins on the planet. I was the tour guide for my friend, Michelle, a newbie at the conference. She, too, was a participant in the non-fiction category. We stayed at the lovely Hearthstone Inn, just a ten-minute drive away in Cedarville. Every morning, we drove to Antioch University Midwest at 8 a.m., to listen to the lectures. Most lunch times we spent at Current Cuisine, a darling little grocery store with a fabulous deli designed to meet the needs of even the pickiest eater. We assembled in groups to talk at small tables along the street, where so many of Yellow Springs inhabitants hang out. After shopping a bit at the many boutiques that sprinkle Xenia Avenue, we drove back to the university for an afternoon of non-fiction talk led by Distinguished OSU Professor Lee Martin, who has published many non-fiction and fiction selections, winning many top honors including a Pulitzer nomination. For the next two hours, as the sun blazed out the window of our classroom, we talked craft. Each of us submitted 20 pages to be dissected by the group. After 6 days together, filled with laughter and yes, tears, we were friends, the 12 of us, posing for pictures so we would never forget this time we shared together, this time of magic. On Friday, we packed our suitcases, checked out of the inn where we stayed and attended our last morning of instruction. In Lee’s afternoon class, we critiqued the final writings before hugging each other goodbye and driving off for home. I circled Yellow Springs’ central thoroughfare, that place where once a year, for one week, I find magic. And then I hopped on the freeway and headed toward home. Ahhhh, Yellow Springs. A place of magic.