Spring Thaw

A weekend writing retreat in Ontario

Longing for a weekend of writing, laughing and lake-gazing?

This is a weekend for folks who want to escape the city, snip the ties on their responsibilities and create some beautiful, focused time to write. We’ll gather at a barrier-free, 600-acre property in the deep woods — eight participants and two facilitators — and we’ll write. In silence and in laughter, in circles and all alone, we’ll find words and sentences to move our stories out into the world.

Participants may have projects on the go, or may simply arrive with big open hearts and the desire to create.

Here’s how it works:

We’ll start this experience with a pre-retreat workshop on Zoom to start the sweet work of building community. We’ll get to know each other, talk through the details of the weekend, and start writing.

Then we’ll gather on a Friday afternoon between 3:30-5pm to start slowing down and transitioning out of our usual lives, into something softer. We’ll have a big group meal that evening, and then a workshop to help us land.

Our time from there will be a mix of writing workshops, group meals, free time, with luxurious silent writing periods on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. We’ll wrap up on Sunday after lunch, between 1-2pm.

To help create a community of care (and because we all know the real party is in the kitchen), each participant will be asked to help plan, bring, and prep one meal for the group. We'll distribute all food restrictions and sensitivities beforehand to make sure everyone will be able to enjoy what we make. We’ll take everyone’s “kitchen comfort levels” into account — if you just want to chop carrots and wash dishes, that’s wonderful.