Writing has always been a thread of my work, passion, and practice. Now it has come to the foreground as I develop my craft and voice in creative nonfiction, rooted in the Montana prairie where I grew up. What started as a few personal stories and magical fables is expanding into a kind of “autofiction” exploring place, attention, and the stories we inherit and carry. I am an alum of the Kenyon Workshop in Creative Nonfiction.

I grew up on a wheat farm about thirty miles from where we’ll be writing together. Those early years gave me some essential metaphors—wide horizons, long cycles, the slow accumulation of days. Day after day on the tractor at four miles an hour. The field wide, the plow narrow. Trust the long work. Show up again.

Both personally and through my small firm, Okay Then, I support writers as they move their work from concept to published work. And thanks to my long experience in design, I enjoy the details of book design and production.

Gathering and hosting people for good conversation and creativity is a core pleasure of mine, and a longtime practice. It is my delight to see people settle into creative flow, navigate the seas of uncertainty, find and deepen their voice. Some examples: Creativity Practice x6, Adaptive Space, and the Frontier Retreats. I also host informal writing groups in my house, and small groups who use poetry and writing as lenses for personal questions.

If you want more about me, I keep a rarely-updated personal site at marcrettig.me. My professional bio is over on LinkedIn.