The Plan

The Future

Phase 1: On ten acres of view property just outside Homer, Alaska, Storyknife will be one of the very few residencies for women writers in the English-speaking world.  The facility will include six private cabins, a main house, and a garden.

Capital costs are estimated at $1,000,000.
6 Cabins ($50,000 each) $300,000
Main Building $250,000
Septic, Road, etc. $200,000
Furnishings $150,000
Staff and Publicity $30,000
Contingency $70,000

Phase 2: Raise funds for an endowment to keep Storyknife running in perpetuity.

The Residency

Storyknife will host six women writers each month for seven months each year.  Writers will submit applications to an admissions committee.  Residents who are selected will be responsible for their travel to and from the residency, but meals throughout their stay will be included.

Each cabin will have commanding views of four volcanoes and lower Cook Inlet.  Residents will be welcomed into their cozy, private cabins, and for the length of their stay will work uninterrupted in solitude and in peace.

Each morning they will make a simple breakfast in their cabins.  Lunch will be delivered by the retreat manager.  Each evening, at dinner time, all six residents will gather in the main house  for dinner and shop talk. In many ways the ability to talk shop with the other residents is as important as time and peace to write in.

The main house, complete with library, kitchen, dining table and office

Lots of space to create community in the main house.

And the cabin. All the mod cons, plus a built-in counter top-style desk across the west wall, where all the great work will be done.

And again, a representation of the cabin furnished. This is where the writers will spend their days working. All they have to do is look up from their keyboards to see Cook Inlet and Iliamna and Redoubt. An inspirational view if ever there was one. Just ask me.