Sunday Blog 202 – 28th September 2025
Top left, 2019 – I’m on the ferry from Methana back to Athens, the hair dye already fading – I’d had done in a hairdresser in Turkey while trying to mend my broken writer’s heart.
Act two – Limnisa
Top right, 2024- I’m sitting in one of the many beautiful linger nodes created at Limnisa, trying to capture the many beautiful colours of the sky and sea in my photo.
Act three – Limnisa
Bottom left – 2025 on of our sunset taverna dinners. I’m in the red top. Generally, the weather was absolutely divine.
Bottom right – 2025 I’m sitting in the desk as in the 2024 picture, with an impressive The End on the manuscript. Well, for this round of edits, anyway
Act One – 2019
The very first time I went to the Limnisa Writing Retreat in Methana, Greece, it was 2019. It’s fair to say that year I’d had a difficult writing holiday. Before I left Perth, I’d planned an online meeting with my mentor when I was in Glasgow. While I’d undertaken a mentorship for my book project, it turned into more of a manuscript appraisal. In my lonely hotel room in Glasgow, looking out at the pouring summer rain, I listened as she delivered the verdict: “This is not publishable in its current format.” I’d then travelled from Glasgow to Turkey. We’d arranged for me to take two weeks to absorb the blow of this feedback, work on her initial suggestions and check in to find a way forward. In Turkey, my mentor then advised me she no longer wanted to work with me. The feedback was more along the lines of “this manuscript is not fixable.” After Turkey, I washed up in Limnisa for a six-day retreat with no book project or clear idea of how to proceed. Enter Mariel, the gracious host of Limnisa. “Your motivation to tell this story is very strong,” she told me in a feedback session. This was so helpful, and with this kernel of encouragement, bit by painful bit I began to work my way forward with a dramatically revised draft.
Act Two – 2024
In the five years between 2019 and 2024, I’d entered the Limnisa Writing competition, and placed fourth, which meant I got a 25% discount on my stay there. I had two years to redeem my prize, and in 2024, I returned for a ten-day retreat. So much had improved with my manuscript from the kindling of Mariel’s encouragement in 2019. I’d been able to qualify for the 2021-2023 Emerging Writers Program so by 2024 I was getting closer to having the manuscript I dreamed of. I worked away at it during my 2024 Limnisa stay, basking in the beauty and inspiration of the place.
Act Three – 2025
It can be awkward when filling in an application for a writing retreat when you are bringing the same project back for the third time. But there’s no judgement. This time, I booked two full weeks. My manuscript was stronger still, but of course, needed work. With the encouragement of fellow writers (here’s looking at you Jo Briggs!), I finished another round of major edits. And as ever, Mariel is there, the gracious host of this unique place, Limnisa. Her home, which she has transformed into a writer’s paradise that she shares with us each year in May and September. The simple format of silence before lunch is a winner. Limnisa has endless spots to sit and write, and the place draws us back over and over. Many of us have been multiple times. We share silence, meals, raucous conversations and a safe space to read out our work. We commiserate over our challenges and setbacks; rejoice in the milestones we achieve.
Mariel says as we are leaving, “Limnisa. Always different, always the same.”
Here’s to 2026 when I plan to return but with a different manuscript!