Storme Arden reflects on her Hideout residency
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Nova Scotia-based writer and artist Storme Arden joined us at The Hideout this past spring to work on a memoir detailing a decade of health challenges. We caught up with Storme recently to ask about her residency experience and to see if Storme had advice for other writers, creatives, and wellness practitioners thinking about applying for a Hideout residency.
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Tell us a bit about the project you worked on during your week at The Hideout.
My project is essentially a memoir covering almost a decade of one illness morphing into another increasing in severity along the way. Celiac disease became multiple myeloma which required a stem cell or bone marrow transplant; it wipes out one’s immune system completely. This vulnerable state led to contracting a deadly virus: Guillain Barré Syndrome. The latter put me in the ICU intubated, hallucinating and completely paralyzed except for my eyes. The Covid-19 virus arrived within months of getting out of the hospital putting an end to maintenance chemotherapy. We turned our world further upside-down by upping stakes in 2020 and moving from St. Martins NB to Windsor NS not realizing we were leaving behind a community for isolation. PTSD hit at that point.
Needing to make sense of all of this and to extract something beneficial and creative from these experiences, I began writing. I applied what I knew from my experience as a visual artist and a lifelong love of reading to my new found form of expression. Along the way, I’ve learned what this sometimes life-threatening journey has really been about. I am finally nearing the end of a long process. The residency arrived at the end of a five-month intensive mentorship. I didn’t realize how much of a rest I needed until I arrived in the peace and quiet of the Hideout.
What did you enjoy most about your residency week at The Hideout?
I enjoyed the quiet most of all. We live on a busy highway in Nova Scotia surrounded by neighbours. The darkness was the second thing I greatly appreciated. I don’t get to see the stars and moon enough where we are despite not being in a city or town. I have to admit my third favourite aspect of the Hideout was the rich library of books. I read three adult books and at least three children’s books. I found a book very relevant to themes in my manuscript on the last morning there and Josh & Trevor were kind enough to let me borrow it and mail it back.
Why are residencies and retreats so vital for writers and creatives?
Creativity requires intense focus, concentration and persistence. Breaks are restorative especially in an environment outside of your regular life and home where there are always things that need one’s attention and labour. It’s helpful to have a change of scenery, stimulating to see new things and places and restful to get away from my house-to-do list. One can only draw from the well so long before it needs refilling.
Any tips for folks thinking about applying for a residency?
I had expectations about how much work I would accomplish during the residency. Josh and Trevor individually reassured me they didn’t have those expectations of me and that a rest can be as useful as pages written. Upon arriving home, new connections and ideas surfaced which were made possible by the time spent at the Hideout and the input from that experience. Stay open to the process. Listen for the nudges and hints. Enjoy what is offered and what is right in front of you.
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Storme Arden is a visual artist and writer working on a memoir entitled Stormy Weather: Getting Happy the Hard Way. She chronicles the ups and downs of living with refractory celiac disease, multiple myeloma and severe osteoporosis. Cancer treatment, including a stem cell transplant, landed her in the ICU. She woke fully paralyzed, hallucinating, intubated and on life support due to the rare virus, Guillain-Barré Syndrome. Needing a serious change of scenery, she and her partner left the cozy fishing village of St. Martins, NB in 2020 at the height of the pandemic to return to NS where they’d met as art students 30 years before. Despite suffering from PTSD, Arden found facing her mortality had resolved her lifelong struggle with depression.
