Storme Arden reflects on her Hideout residency

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.

Maritime writers awarded Susan Buchanan Hideout scholarships

Hideout residencies designed for writers, wellness practitioners

PEI writer Julie Bull and Nova Scotia-based writer Storme Arden have been named 2024 Susan Buchanan Hideout scholarship winners. The scholarships will provide each writer the opportunity to attend a one-week self-directed residency at The Hideout.

“We received a record number of scholarship applications for this year’s Hideout residencies,” says Hideout co-owner Joshua Lewis. “The residency program has been flourishing and we’re so excited to support Julie and Storme and their exceptional projects.”

The Hideout residencies provide a low-cost opportunity for writers, wellness practitioners, and other artists to remove themselves from responsibilities and dedicate themselves fully to their creative and personal practice. The scholarships were renamed in 2024 to mark the five-year anniversary of the residency program.

Winner of multiple Island literary awards, as well as a PEI Book Award, Susan Buchanan was a well-loved and deeply admired Island writer and disability rights activist who ran a bed and breakfast called Evening Primrose at The Hideout property in North Tryon with her life partner Jeanne Sullivan.

Lewis says it was important to acknowledge the spirit, passion, and creative legacy of Susan through the Hideout scholarship program. “Although we never had the privilege to meet her, we know Susan was a fierce fighter and such a bright creative spark. We can think of no more deserving recipients of the inaugural Susan Buchanan scholarships than Julie and Storme.”

Julie Bull (they/them) is a recovering academic turned artist. They earned their PhD in 2019 and promptly ran away from academia to pursue their creative curiosities. Julie is a poly-disciplinary artist, poet, writer, spoken-word enthusiast, painter, maker, researcher, ethicist, and educator who stirs things up with some unlikely integrations, influences, and imagination. Since 2020, they have published three books of poetry, exhibited two solo and several group art exhibitions, and have created, curated, and performed at dozens of events across Epekwitk. Julie’s journey from the head to the he(art) has been a process and practice of healing through unraveling and re-weaving. As a queer, non-binary Inuk artist from NunatuKavut, Julie’s art is filled with playful and purposeful practices that explore the complexities and contradictions of the liminal space.

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.

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About The Hideout Residency Program

Located on PEI’s South Shore, The Hideout is a vacation and retreat property co-founded by author Trevor Corkum and therapist Joshua Lewis. The Hideout residency program provides low-cost opportunities for writers, artists, and wellness practitioners from across Canada and the world to spend a week focused on their practice. Each year, up to two full Susan Buchanan Hideout scholarships are awarded. Hideout scholars join a line-up of invited artists, a national writer-in-residence, and writers and practitioners chosen through a general application process.