March 1-3, 2019: Empowered Writing: Using Yoga & Meditation to Awaken Your Creativity Weekend Retreat
We’re partnering with Yogi and Author Cathleen Kahn for an interactive retreat that combines yoga, meditation, and creativity. You may already know how the controlled movement within yoga flows and the stillness in meditation can provide benefits to physical and mental health, but they can also widen and deepen our connection to our own creativity, that force within us that longs for acknowledgment. Cathleen will lead a series of basic yoga and meditation workshops to help us explore how being present in body and mind can flow into a more concerted presence in our writing. We’ll also experiment with the art of journaling and how to use it to open a new dialogue with our inner creative world. Join us as we discuss new ways to increase our capacity for creativity and enhance our relationship with writing.
Click HERE to register!
April 5-7, 2019: The Artful Writer: Exploring the Connection Between Image & Word Weekend Retreat
In The Artful Writer Weekend Workshop, we’ll explore the connection between image and word. We’ll delve into the world of visual art and see how it can inspire and enhance our writing. We’ll start with several Ekphrastic exercises (writing in response to paintings and photography) and then try our hand at creating our own visual art with the aim of writing towards those pieces at the end of the weekend. We’ll study geometric patterns and practice the art of meditative doodling. There’s no need to worry that you’re not an “artist” or that you can’t “draw.” You can do this and you’ll be amazed at the beautiful things you create. You’ll be equally amazed at the words you write that are inspired by visual art.
Click HERE to register!
May 4-5, 2019: Courting Memory: Embodied Experience as a Key to Writing Memoir Mini-Retreat
In this workshop, you’ll encounter a number of sensory experiences meant to help you recall, with greater clarity and awareness, memories triggered by smell, sound, movement, and taste. We will talk about the way embodied experience helps us access unexpected moments from the past, and help us create richer, more fully realized narratives of our lives. Participants can expect to generate three short pieces of memoir in prompts designed to allow for–but not force–exploring interconnected memories toward generating one longer piece. This retreat will be led by Professor Sarah Einstein, who teaches Creative Writing with an emphasis on Creative Nonfiction and Interactive Storytelling at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Click HERE to register!
July 7-13, 2019: Triple Power Poetry: Three Workshops, Three Teachers, One Amazing Week Special Residency Experience
Join us from July 7-13, 2019 for a power-packed week of poetry! We’ve invited three powerful teacher/poets (Andrew McFadyen-Ketchum, Amie Whittemore, and Gary McDowell) to teach one workshop each during the week. With engaging topics and inspiring discussions, writers can take what they learned in workshop to generate new poems. Three different teachers means three different approaches to teaching and three different views of poetry. This is a unique opportunity!
This special retreat packs two valuable writing experiences into one week. First, writers will enjoy a full residency with independent writing time and the freedom to choose how they spend the majority of their day. Writers provide and prepare their own food (with the exception of the Welcome Dinner and Lunches on M, W, and F). We provide plenty of pantry space and a large kitchen is available for use around the clock. Second, writers will attend a 2-hour writing workshop on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10:00 to Noon. In addition, writers will enjoy detailed feedback on 3 poems within a 30 minute consultation. The time of structured learning balances the free time so that every writer receives both community and solitude, time to be engaged and time to be at the page.
Click HERE to register!
July 21-27, 2019: Stronger Stories: Discovering the Elements of Powerful Fiction Special Residency Experience
Join us as traditionally published author & experienced book coach Sheila Athens shares the secrets she’s gained by providing developmental edits on dozens of manuscripts. In addition to workshops and plenty of writing time, you’ll get individualized feedback on the first ten pages of your novel. You’ll learn the elements that make literary agents, acquiring editors and readers latch onto a story & fall willingly under its spell. This special retreat packs two valuable writing experiences into one week. First, writers will enjoy a full residency with independent writing time and the freedom to choose how they spend the majority of their day. Writers provide and prepare their own food (with the exception of the Welcome Dinner). We provide plenty of pantry space and a large kitchen is available for use around the clock. Second, writers will attend a 2-hour writing workshop each day from 10:00 to Noon led by author and book coach Sheila Athens. The time of structured learning balances the free time so that every writer receives both community and solitude, time to be engaged and time to be at the page.