Friday, April 15- Monday April 18
In a world full of sexual trauma, silencing, and shame, writing about sexuality can be intimidating. Yet your experiences—full of wisdom, humor, and sensuality—carry the medicine we all need. This spring, join acclaimed writer Katherine Standefer for an intimate, joyful retreat designed to help you tell your sexual story. Over our three days together, you’ll dig into desire from new angles, improve your sex scenes, organize your experiences, and gain skills for safely engaging trauma on the page. You’ll also benefit from time to write deeply, nourished by writing prompts and stretches of quiet drafting time.
Our home for three nights is a spacious 325-year-old farmhouse on five acres nestled in the Catskills Mountains of upstate New York, complete with a dedicated meditation space. Our host is feminist psychologist Dr. Tracy Sidesinger, who supports patients through issues of sexuality, trauma, spirituality, maternity, and identity. Plan on delicious locally catered meals, rooms equipped with personal writing desks, and pastoral grounds where you can wander and reflect.
Here we create the kind of rare community that only crystallizes when we do the brave, magical work of owning our stories together.
Details: The intensive will be held from April 15-18, 2022 in Accord, NY, two hours north of NYC. Arrive Friday afternoon and depart Monday morning. (See pictures of the house here.)
Your investment of $1,850 includes intensive co-led workshops, three nights lodging, and all meals. Our group has room for five participants.
To apply for this opportunity, send a 500-word letter to Kati and Tracy. The letter should include why you feel drawn to this workshop and how it fits into your current writing life. Be sure to tell us a bit about your comfort level having conversations about sexuality. Upon acceptance, a deposit of half is necessary to reserve your spot. Email your letter to info@tracysidesingerpsyd.com.
About your hosts:
Katherine Standefer is the author of Lightning Flowers, which was a Finalist for the 2021 Kirkus Prize in Nonfiction, a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice/Staff Pick, and one of Oprah Magazine’s Best Books of Fall 2020. Her writing about sexuality appeared in The Best American Essays 2016 and won the 2015 Iowa Review Award in Nonfiction. Standefer’s unique embodied pedagogy grows out of more than a decade as a sexuality educator, study at the Arizona Trauma Institute, and six years facilitating classes that help people tell stories of the body. She lives on a piñon- and juniper-studded mesa in New Mexico with her chickens.
Tracy Sidesinger, PsyD is a psychoanalytic psychologist bilocated between Brooklyn and Upstate New York. She is co-founder of The New York Center for Community Psychoanalysis, an emerging nonprofit psychotherapy clinic in Flatbush Brooklyn. She also serves on the board of directors for the Museum of Motherhood as artist residency coordinator. Her writing and practice focus on gender and sexuality, maternal mental health, spirituality, and the arts, and can be found in Studies in Gender and Sexuality, Journal of Mother Studies, and Public Seminar. She is currently working on a collection of essays bridging psychoanalytic insight, interviews, and memoir to bear on the topic of feminine knowing.
Tentative Schedule: Please know that some shifts in schedule remain possible.
** indicates an event that includes writing prompts
Friday:
1:00pm-3:00pm—Arrivals
4:00pm-5:30pm—Introductory Happy Hour**, including house orientation, program overview, opening reflective writings, and introductions to one another
6:00pm-8:00pm—Dinner
8:00pm-9:30pm—The Sexual Culture We Live In**, a dynamic group conversation interspersed with writing prompts, including an overview of important terms like trauma, shame, and sex positivity/negativity
9:30pm—Open Time/Bedtime
Saturday:
7:30am-9:00am—Breakfast assortment of local goods available for pickup
9:00am-11:15am—Writing Our Sexual Timelines**
11:15am-2:00pm—Mandatory Silent Time (Lunch available for individual pickup starting at noon); you will receive writing prompts just before this period
2:00pm-4:00pm—Free Time (Writing Time if you wish)
4:00pm-5:45pm—How to Write Sex Scenes part I** defining porn & erotica
6:00pm-8:00pm—Dinner
8:15-9:15pm—Digging Into Our Sexual Timelines**; reflection on the process, discussion of helpful craft concepts like narrative distance, framing, and authority on the page.
9:15PM—Open Time/Bedtime
Sunday:
7:30am-9:00am—Breakfast assortment of local goods available for pickup
9:00am-11:00am—Writing Sexual Trauma**
11:00am-2:00pm—Mandatory Silent Time (Lunch will be available for individual pickup starting at noon); you will receive writing prompts just before this period
2:00pm-4:00pm—Free Time (Writing Time if you wish)
4:00pm-5:45pm—How to Write Sex Scenes part II** nonfiction sex, hot & not
6:00pm-8:00pm—Dinner
8:15pm-9:15pm—Writing About Real People**; discussing characterization & exploring the stakes of our writing
Monday:
8:00am-8:45am—Group Breakfast
9:00am-9:45am—Final Reflection & Send-Off**
10:00am—Departure
To apply, email info@tracysidesingerpsyd.com. Upon acceptance, your deposit of half the total is required to hold your spot.
