Cancellation Policy for the Teacher Training, the Academy, & Retreats

Dear Sweet Beautiful Writer,I’m so happy you are here on this very intimate 10-month love affair with the written word that started as a post-grad program and now trains writers of all genres and skill levels, who have innate talent and the capacity for mastery in literary expression. I became a writer when I was […]

When Will We Write? The 2020 Fall Gateless Writing retreat starts the evening of Thursday, September 24 at 5 p.m. and continues until Sunday, September 27, at 2 p.m. This part of New England is breathtaking in early fall with miles of unspoiled coastline. The critically acclaimed chef, Renata Rokicki, a Gateless-trained teacher and leader […]

There’s my home! And somewhere in those gables and gothic pointed windows is my very own sweet spot! What’s yours? The most exciting thing is happening right now, and it has to do with one of my favorite longhaired, green-eyed fashionista writers and lifestylists: Desha Peacock. When Desha was hosting her award-winning television series, The […]

December 18th, 2012, Brattleboro, Vermont Grandma’s back (in lieu of scanned pictures, here’s her look-alike) Thank you all for waiting for me and Grandma. Grandma herself has been most patient, her typed pages sitting like little soldiers on the shelf, forgiving me for not being able to type her out every day like I promised […]

  Monday, October 17, Brattleboro, Vermont The people on Wall Street are cold, so I just sent some money for sleeping bags for the protestors in their dandy little plastic handcuffs.  In general I believe in the religion of revolution. I’m going through one myself right now, which comes on the heels of a tremendous […]

Brattleboro, Vermont, September 1, 2011 Oooooh, how time flies when I’m not with my grandmother and thank you one thousand times for asking about her all these long months when I just couldn’t blog blog blog her diary and my life…  As you probably know, I was passed out with Lyme disease for almost the […]

I actually liked Eat, Pray, Love.  I had to be dragged to it, kicking and screaming, by one of my very best friends in the whole world, Barbara Campman, who looks like a lovely sprite, makes profound art and keeps a magnificent garden, among other things.  I pulled hard for The Kids Are Alright, but […]

Recently Nell Curley did a fabulous little write up about blogging with my grandmother in the Commons, and I realized that I have abandoned my poor grandmother, there she is back in Manhattan with her screaming baby and her pretty velvet housegown in the raw cold of early March while her very selfish granddaughter has been frolicking […]

Today the river is very still as though it is holding itself together after last night’s festivities. I watched big spreading fingers of cracking, colored light all across the sky from where I stood on a patio, eating grilled squash and burgers. The kids ran down the hill with sparklers, people smoked by a bonfire […]

I sometimes wonder, as I am transcribing my grandmother’s 1937 diary to the worldwide web what my grandmother was like when she was a little girl, before champagne and gin before guests from Hollywood and cooks named Grace.  I want to ask her about her best childhood friend, that girl she might have kicked her […]

Mom still building sand castles at 70 Well, here in Suzanne Blog Land we ra ra ra about my grandmother, who I must admit is an absolute celebrity, but really the best most important most amazing and incredible thing  my grandma ever did was to give birth to my mother, who, in grandma world, is […]

Finally back in Saint Mark’s place after a long hiatus!!  Back to Grandma Maggie and the littlest Timothy Duffield, who just this minute (back in 1937) came home from the hospital and is  howling on the bed amidst Hollywood actresses. February 21, 1937 This morning to Wanamaker’s to try to get another brassiere, but they […]

Well spring has sprung.  My littlest niece spent Easter pinching a stuffed duck and dancing along while it sang a drunk sounding quack quack quack song.  We went barefoot down the sidewalk and picked flowers out of strangers’ yards, ate too many dyed purple marshmallow nightmares and rode home in the blaring sunshine. Of course […]

March 17, 2010 Well, I have been away for some time as I have been lolling around in bed with Miss Marla (pictured here in my Ethiopian silk scarf) trying not to be too beaten up by Lyme Disease. If you have it do call so you won’t have to reinvent the wheel because I […]

Oh, my, while my grandmother is away, we are getting such unbelievable gramma guest blogs. This one heralds all the way from Rome, Italy where one of my very very best friends in the whole world, Elizabeth Farren, writes fiction and lives with her fabulous husband, Nico. I have actually met Lizzy’s grandma, and she […]

Well, while my grandma is off having her baby, I am still getting to read amazing guest blog posts!!!  My very favorite writing reminds me what it was like to be 16 and wild and free and completely invincible.  Can you imagine my happiness when I got a guest blog post submission that made me […]

Well, Grandma is still off having her baby!!!  Our very first guest blog comes from one of my all time most favoritst people in the world, our very very own Marshall Brewer, a  beautiful California boy who lives here in Brattleboro.  Welcome Marshall, and thank you for your post!!! Ruth Brownell Lewis was born the […]

What Was Grandma Maggie Doing On February 2, 1937 on Saint Mark’s Place in Manhattan????? She was having her baby!!!  Happy happy day!!! Grandma finally had her baby.  On this day, February 2 in 1937, Timothy Duffield was born. Did you know, then, Grandma who you had in your arms?  My uncle Tee! Curly-haired brown-eyed […]

What Was My Grandma Maggie Doing On Saint Mark’s Place, February 1, 1937 Rained all day yesterday; we read— I in Daughter of Earth by Agnes Smedley, powerful book, full of hate and very interesting.  To *Luchow’s for knackwurst. M. beer and I wine, and home and the Talleys in for bridge, and we had […]

What Has My Grandma, Maggie, Been  Doing these Last Few Days???? January 29th, 1937 This mythical date which we have bandied about for so long came and went and nothing happened. Took a walk, bought case of 88cent wine, enjoyed the sunshine and mild crispness of 39-degree day, home and read In Sweden: the Middle […]

What Has Suzanne Been Doing Lo These Many Days????? January 30th, 2010, Brattelboro, Vermont Today am catching you up on one, two of my grandma’s long lost days because yours truly has been lolling around in bed with Lyme Disease, feeling very much like I got in a fist fight with a Sumo wrestler. And […]

January 26th, 1937, Saint Mark’s Place, Manhattan, Maggie’s diary continues: Anticipated quiet day and evening so called Edith about lunch.  Had lunch at Charles’— chiffonade salad—and she said they had been to two parties at Studin’s where she met *Edward J. O’Brien whom they didn’t like, said he was a flabby, affected, poseur, celebrity hunting.  […]

January 24th, 1937, Saint Mark’s Place, Manhattan, Maggie’s diary continues: Trotsky at his finest: Read Bitter Victory, war novel translated from the French and fair enough, for a while after breakfast, then out to walk down Second Avenue and across Houston Street and up through Washington Square in fine but persistent mizzle.  Home drenched and […]

January 23th, 1937, Saint Mark’s Place, Manhattan, Maggie’s diary continues: Ilya Ehrenburg and Gustav Regler with Hemingway, 1937, Spain: To doctor who seems to think it won’t be long now. Very jovial, had just delivered woman who was in labor only two hours.  He said my umbilicus ceasing to pout.  Took handbag into Bonwit Teller […]

January 21th, 1937, Saint Mark’s Place, Manhattan, Maggie’s diary continues: Tex O’Reilly: To the O’Reillys’ for dinner and John’s parents there. His mother a prim-looking woman with hair partied in the middle and a sort of daguerreotype dress buttoned up the front said she wanted her whisky straight and complained she wanted a cigarette.  His […]

January 20th, 1937, Saint Mark’s Place, Manhattan, Maggie’s diary continues: Robert Breen on motorcycle: Walked and read. Discussed with M. naming child Poise Energy as earlier generations named theirs Prudence, Patience and so on…  Nelson in after dinner and we told him the Talley’s story of the man who was playing charades and unscrewed the […]

January 19th, 1937, Saint Mark’s Place, Manhattan, Maggie’s diary continues: Thea Rasche, German Aviatrix: Beautiful snowstorm.  Blew over to Hearn’s for more 94cent wine, and bottle of Dunhill’s rye at 2.24 a quart to try.  Snow drifted on paunch and looked very funny. M. home at night with more Racusin tales.  He’s working on a […]

January 18th, 1937, Saint Mark’s Place, Manhattan, Maggie’s diary continues: Poured all day yesterday so got up late, M. read Capt. Liddell Hart’s Outline of War, and bits from Chesterton’s autobiography while I read another baby book, Dr. Josephine Kenyon’s which Lank Osborn recommended and which is good though I rather prefer Bartlett.  Bakes spareribs. […]

January 16th, 1937, Saint Mark’s Place, Manhattan, Maggie’s diary continues: Made cake, not perfect though frosting excellent. Joneses came over for bridge so beat them. They had busy week because Lump’s cousin was in town. And What Did Her Grandaughter, Yours Truly, do on January 16, 2010: I can’t say I baked a cake today. […]

January 15th, 1937, Saint Mark’s Place, Manhattan, Maggie’s diary continues: Still warm and rainy.  Talleys came for bridge and beat us but had fun. All sighing over lists printed in papers of incomes over $15,000, wondering how so many people get it. And her grandaughter, Suzanne? What was she doing (thinking) on January 15th, 2010: […]

January 14th, 1937, Saint Mark’s Place, Manhattan, Maggie’s diary continues: M. working last night on resume of Spanish War for feature section.* So, I read Education and The Good Life by Bertrand Russell.  M. has read it, too, and we both enjoyed it; all about bringing up babies,Russell agrees with Bartlett.  Today to Dr.   Nurse […]

January 12th, 1937, Saint Mark’s Place, Manhattan, Maggie’s diary continues: M. home last night with news that Glenn Frank was just ousted from the presidency of U. Wisconsin.  He might join the Herald Tribune staff.  We were wondering if he was going to do column, and plotted a skit for a quartet with Lippmann, Thomspon, […]

January 10th, 1937, Saint Mark’s Place, Manhattan, Maggie’s diary continues: Walked through drizzle up to 49th Street and East River to Marland and Anne’s for  highballs with them and Dorothy and Jimmy. Read impressive account of Marland’s amoebic dysentery in Mayo Clinic Journal. Dorothy told us about her Tommy getting a screw in his lungs, […]

January 9th, 1937, Saint Mark’s Place, Manhattan, Maggie’s diary continues: Succeeded in sticking M. with new needle Jack Cluett in to play bridge with his fiancée, Sylvia somebody from San Fransisco. Pretty girl, whom he first met several years ago at Huntington Hotel, when he was married to Prudie.  He said then he thought she […]

January 8th, 1937, Saint Mark’s Place, Manhattan, Maggie’s diary continues: Still warm and damp.  To lunch with Edith at Charles’, for a walk and home.  Could not give M. injection after cooking syringe, etc… because bent needle trying to get it in rubber top of bottle of serum and scared to put it in him.  […]

January 7th, 1937, Saint Mark’s Place, Manhattan, Maggie’s diary continues: Read Bartlett’s book on baby care cover to cover then to dinner at the Hoffman’s with Ned, Pat and Dick Fabian who is working in aviation now.  Champagne.  Mrs. H. gave us a white and pink “snuggle bunny”, very sweet.  Pat told about dumb young […]

January 5th, 1937, Saint Mark’s Place, Manhattan, Maggie’s diary continues: Grace (Maggie’s domestic help) was sick so very domestic day.  At a little after three I met Bobbie Sutton in Macy’s baby Department where there was a sale going on. She helped me buy necessities—diapers, shirts, sheets, pads of one sort and another, stockings; then […]

January 4th, 1937, Saint Mark’s Place, Manhattan, Maggie’s diary continues: just picture her with a round beach ball for a belly! The doctor was having a busy morning.  Miss Glenn says baby won’t come until Feb. 7,  but he seems to think may arrive before. After doctor to Peck & Peck’s to buy six pairs […]

Here I post a daily diary entry from my grandmother, who lived on Saint Mark’s Place, Manhattan, in 1937, and a blog entry from yours truly, who lives in Brattleboro, Vermont, 2010. The most appetizing picture of haggis I could find (you’ll understand later…) January 3, 1937,Saint Mark’s Place, Manhattan, Maggie writes: Up late and […]

And so, in case you all are wondering: What did my grandma Maggie do on New Years Day?! Maggie New Years Day, Saint Mark’s Place, Manhattan, 1937 M. got day off, so laid around late and then up for Sunday breakfast at 11.  Grimes  came over, sent out for canned lemon juice and caviar and […]

I’m not armless in this picture, my arms are behind me! Suzanne, The Eve of New Years Eve, 2009: On the coldest day of the season, P. and I took the Metro North to Grand Central to chase my dead grandmother.  P. looking very French in chapeau and me in mink hat.  Lauren met us […]

Last night I curled up with Miss Marla (longhaired kitty cat) and watched Meryl Streep playing Julia Childs. Her cheekbones gave her away, but I loved how she careened about Paris, eating pears and smelling cilantro.  A few things made it a good movie: someone from the LWord showed up (her older sister), the winning […]

Tibetan Sand Mandala Writing is a little like getting married. The minute Peter and I finished our vows my stepfather told us we should start popping them out.  In those exact words, I believe (he is no longer part of the family). Similarly, at every signing I did for my novels, readers said, So what’s […]

We love Halloween. On Halloween you can get naked, don a tinsel wig, paint yourself silver and dance down Christopher Street explaining to two million other paraders that you are mercury in retrograde.  The parade in our town starts at the Co-op at six and traipses up Main Street in a misaligned mayhem of pirates, […]

Ashley Bryan, children’s author (my personal fav!) Cellist Jody Redhage with poet, Wyn Cooper and Jere Carbone (voted best librarian in the state!) Suzanne and Roberto Olmstead on the Writing Panel Oh my dear book lovers, It was absolutely fabulous.  The whole weekend spun out of control in a beautiful way.  On Friday morning, I […]

Here is how how I feel every year during the literary festival: absolutely drunk with pleasure. (The handsome wild west looking man is my husband, he is crazy about reading. See? Reading really IS sexy!) It’s that time of year again.  Our little town will be painted a very literary red this weekend, and what […]

If you write about the American dream, you first have to define it. My sister is probably the epitome. At 23, she found a hardworking, handsome, sweetheart of a businessman, fell in love, got married, bought a “starter house” in the suburbs and popped out kids, 1,2,3. Now she has a pool, a four-bedroom colonial, […]

The weather forecast is scattered thunderstorms for the next seven days. It’s been a rainy summer here in Vermont. We call it the new Seattle. The ferns and sumac are jungle big and almost every morning the mountain out our window disappears in mist and sheets of silver slanted rain fall on the Connecticut River. […]

So, everything is just perfectly divine, and I am so happy I could be tasered right now and frozen in marital delight. Except for one tiny little thing…

My mother was visiting the night the murder happened on Elliot Street in our little town of Brattleboro, Vermont. It happened a block away from where she was sleeping with her eyeshades on and her travel alarm clock next to her. There were evidence tents set up the next morning. “Just like in a Robert […]

TUCSON IN THE BLOOD Last week I was back in Tucson where the Mexican women sell tamales in front of Food City, the Chicano boys with fades cruise 22d street in bright yellow low riders with flames on the side, bikers play darts in low cinderblock bars, Tohono girls in black braids sway those sassy […]