SAFTA Residency 2020

This fall, I had the honor of attending my first-ever writing residency, at the Sundress Academy for the Arts’ Firefly Farms, on the outskirts of Knoxville, Tennessee, and it was an experience for which I am immeasurably grateful. I wrote a ridiculous and over-the-top piece of pseudo-poetry about the end of the world, and painted and collaged, and read high fantasy, and wrote short fiction; I got to spend whole days thinking through characters and plot-holes and sentences and structures, and no matter what time it was or where I was (my favorite spot: the barn loft after dark), could grab my notebook and start writing again. It was glorious. I wandered a state park and a community garden bursting with love, hiked and swam in a quarry (like something out of Michael Fournier’s Swing State!!) and drove twisting, winding mountain roads, and saw so much natural beauty I had no idea existed here. It was eye opening. I spent every possible second I could outside, and earned dozens upon dozens of mosquito bites. I visited historic cemeteries (a tiny company graveyard, half up a mountain and half-full of the graves of children; a national cemetery for veterans, with the names of their wives written on their tombs’ back-sides) and the Museum of Appalachia, where most of the thousands of items on display came with hand-written explanations. I learned so many small pieces of people’s individual stories; I was honored so many people shared their lives and hearts with me. I helped cut off a piece of netting that had been wrapped tightly around a duck’s foot, and helped an awe-inspiring neighbor find her missing dog. Speaking of doggos: Inara and Zoe, the resident farm-floofs are the absolute goodest girls and the best to snuggle and stargaze with, and I know I left a piece of my heart with them and the fireflies (and mosquitoes) on that rugged, wonderful hollow hill. Thank you, SAFTA, for this incredible experience; I am so deeply humbled and grateful!

The Sundress Academy for the Arts is an absolutely wonderful organization that offers a reading series, workshops, lectures, published works, and so much more. If you’re looking for a writing community or for a writing residency or book publisher, be sure to check out their offerings!