Erik Ehn Workshop, Overview

People have been asking about the (amazing) workshop in which I participated -- the one led by Erik Ehn, organized by the Pataphysics group at Flea Theatre.

Here's an overview:

Day One:

Arrive.

Dinner.

Group Session: overview of retreat and how it will work.  Silence begins.

Day Two:

Breakfast.

A series of Group Sessions (no speaking except for Erik) in which he introduces several exercises, intermixed with solo writing time, meals, and "vacancies" -- periods during which we are neither to write nor to do anything specifically "productive," a kind of regenerative period to keep us ready for our more generative writing periods.  

On day two, there are four Group sessions (if I remember correctly).

Day Three:

"check in" time in the morning -- time for people to speak with Erik, one on one, if the silence is getting to them.

Breakfast.

3 writing sessions, three gatherings, lunch & dinner.  One vacancy, one break.

We are asked to set our alarms for 3:00 am and write for an hour.

Day Four:

Two gatherings, a lot of writing time, meals, vacancies.

Before dinner, we break silence.  We stay up late, talking a lot, decompressing.

Day Five:

 Breakfast, we leave.