Got the rocking chair blues? Is travel the cure?
West Maui Mountains
I got a comfortable rocking chair when I moved into my new Lahaina, Maui apartment in March. I had no idea then that it would be my go-to chair for soothing my nerves by rocking to and fro; or for writing while I rocked & looked out at the stunning West Maui Mountains for inspiration. Of course, the rocking chair had to be shared with Cinnamon kitty! 
The Rocking Chair
As wonderful as my time in the rocking chair has been, I think I’ve got a case of the “Rocking Chair Blues.” I’m ready to kick off my house-slippers & grungy clothes and hit the road or the “friendly skies!” What I’m talking about is TRAVEL!
What About Writing & Travel?
Now that the pandemic is leveling off and people are vaccinated, most of us want to travel. The number of travelers arriving daily during the first week of June at the Maui airport was an astonishing 6,000 per day! All this travel to Hawaii & other areas is understandable because people want to be outside enjoying the water, sand & surf and dining together again at fabulous restaurants.
Writing at the Beach
But what about writing and travel? Do they mix? Is it unreasonable to think we can do both? Isn’t traveling just for relaxing & having fun? Maybe a road trip with a friend? Is a trip to a sacred site what’s needed to re-invigorate you? Camping anyone? Where? And if I travel, will I be able to write, you ask? No matter where we travel, shouldn’t we leave our journals & laptops at home?
Where is Your Magical Place?
Where’s My Magical Place?
Is it time now to get back to our writing AND go somewhere that gets our creative juices flowing again? Somewhere that feeds our soul and inspires us to engage with our creativity? Writers have always sought out inspiring places to write but where is that magical place you’ve been wanting to travel? Coordinating your writing with traveling so that you will be able to have time to write, will help you decide where your magical place is.
What About a Writing Retreat in Hawaii, April, 2022?
Hana Maui Waterfalls
There is a magical place called Hana, Maui, beautiful, remote and where the Hawaiian culture is still alive and well. The writing retreat I offer every year in Taos, NM, will now be happening in Hawaii. A retreat center in Hana that caught my eye as being perfect for a writing retreat is called Ala Kukui, meaning Path of Enlightenment. It closed during the pandemic and is currently open only to Hawaiian residents. The center located on land in Hana is firmly grounded in the traditions of Hawaiian spirituality & reverence for the planet and serves the local community with classes on ancient Hawaiian history & culture, healing & cooking. Retreat participants at Ala Kukui are offered a rare opportunity to engage with the local community & learn traditional Hawaiian cultural practices. I have booked space at the Ala Kukui for next April, 2022, a time far enough in the future to allow for this very special place to once again open to non-Hawaiian residents. Registration will begin this fall.
Writing During the Pandemic
Writes of Passage
Writers tell me that even though they spent most of 2020 inside their home, they didn’t get the writing done they’d hoped to do. “I was just too exhausted mentally and emotionally;” or, “I felt like a well that had run dry and couldn’t summon the motivation to write.” Through inspiration drawn from writers whom I continued to coach during the pandemic: Nellie Correa, Lola Scoby, RainaRowland...and regular Zoom meetings with Albuquerque poets & writers Jules Nyquist, John Roche, Kate Padillo, Paul Krya, Megan Baldrige, Denise Weaver-Ross, Sylvia Ramos, Jesse Ehrenberg & Mary Dezember, I was able to show up to the page through the emotional roller coaster ride of the pandemic and finish writing my book “Writes of Passage: Writing Through the Seasons of Your Life,“and finally to publish it through Earth Muse Press in November, 2020. The only other option to writing, it seemed to me, was to go crazy, which at times seemed like an inevitability. 
Moving outside my comfort zone, I’m currently teaching a Zoom class using my newly published book Writes of Passage!
Get Your Wild Woman Writing!
During the pandemic many of us found refuge & renewal in nature. With the quiet that spread over the world when the stay at home order was in place & most businesses were closed, nature re-bounded in a positive way. We felt a connection for all people everywhere because we were going through something perilous together and it brought us closer. This “time-out” phase also allowed us to re-think many things, including our connection to nature & how we have been abusing Mother Earth for a long time. Our commitment to help take better care of each other & Mother Earth was strengthened.
Pele Goddess of Volcanoes
Join me for an online Zoom class, WILD WOMEN WRITE, starting September 12, 2021.The intention of this class is to help us reconnect to that wildish part of ourselves and the natural world accessed through writing & learning from myths and stories about the Wild Woman archetype. There will be 6 classes over a period of 8 weeks. We’ll be using my writing workbook “Wild Women Write: Re-Connecting with the Wild Feminine.” Registration for this class will begin August, 2021. Look for more details coming soon on my website. Meantime, you can purchase the book Wild Women Write, look at its contents & decide if your Wild Woman is calling you to this class!
ALOHA & A HUI HO (Until we meet again)!
Marjorie St.Clair
