The Fiction Writer's Journey
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​The 22 Annual Writing & Creativity Retreat for Women
​Bar Harbor, Maine, Home to Acadia National Park!
October 22-17, 2022

Emily Hanlon: emily@emilyhanlon.com
The Retreat Is Open To All Levels of Writers.
Call Emily to Discuss Your Participation. (914) 962-4432

​Being a Fiction Writer Is Passionate, Challenging, Fun, and Freeing!​
​​​Words alone do not a fiction writer make! Yet for most writers, at one time or another, we waste endless time and energy as we search for the perfect word or phrase or beginning paragraph -- only find ourselves face to face with the inner critic.

The core of the fiction writer's journey is not words. It is passion and risk. In face, we might say that creativity = passion and risk. Without them, we lose the magic, the imagination goes into hiding and we end up frustrated and wondering why we ever thought we could write fiction anyway. And that's a tragic place for the fiction writer to find herself.
 
Consider these words from Albert Einstein: 
​​“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” ​

The magic of this retreat reveals itself as day by day we learn to trust and embrace the what sometimes feels like the chaos of the imagination. 
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Emily and Lucy, Retreat Mascot, on Top of Cadillac Mountain, Acadia National Park.
One my favorite ways of expressing this: We must, like Alice, follow the White Rabbit. "Curiouser and curiouser," said Alice!
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"In Emily's retreat, I finally let my writing fly unfettered and alive. I felt childlike and adult at the same time, responsible for the process but enjoying it with the wonder of a small child. It has been simply amazing." ​~Michelle Burton​
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​​​Our Creativity Is The Source Of Our Best Characters and Stories. The chemistry and culture of my retreats and the Circle that holds us are filled with excitement, liveliness, risk-taking and creative expectation...
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Which reminds me of this poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
​

“What if you slept
And what if
In your sleep
You dreamed
And what if
In your dream
You went to heaven
And there plucked a strange and beautiful flower
And what if
When you awoke
You had that flower in you hand
Ah, what then?”

If you like this poem, this image, this thought, you will love my retreat! Oh, and if you've worked with me or are on my mailing, this wonderful metaphor by Coleridge is just another way of saying: "How Far Down the Rabbit Hole Are You Ready To Go?"​
​In our daily sessions, we explore possibilities for characters and plots that stretch the boundaries of our creativity.We break free of the fetters that our Inner Critics put on our imagination and magic happens!

Unexpected characters and plots twists appear for all of us on the retreat.

How?
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By fertilizing our creative ground through circle work that includes picture and word prompts, the What If? and What Happens Next? games. Character interviews done through learning to inhabit your characters, and lots more.

With all this emphasis on the imagination, where you might ask is work on developing the fiction writer's craft? That is the secret to my coaching. Craft and technique are never taught in the abstract. Rather it, too, rises up from the creative fertility that abounds! ​
​Women who write fiction share aspects of their creative life that thrive in community.
In daily sessions we meet in a Circle to explore possibilities for our characters and plot that stretch the boundaries of our creativity. We seek out characters whom we might otherwise never discover. We conceive plot twists and turns that might never before have escaped the fetters we often put on our imagination.

We share, critique, play with our creativity, feast on meals, experience the awe-inspiring landscape of nature the surrounds and inspires us, listen to open readings, and chat with new friends. 
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​​"My favorite part of Emily's Retreat was being with the women in the Circle. I loved watching the process flow. The shared insights made me feel part of the flow and the magic." ​- ​Vallerie Huyghue
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​​​"The retreat jump-started my writing in a way I never thought possible. The words tumbled out, and I am overjoyed. I come away from this magical place that invites the land and the sea into my imagination with a full heart." ~ Cynthia Ayers
Daily Flow
Goals Of The Retreat
Rooms & Food
In Women's Words
Pricing &Registration

The Retreat is Open to All Levels of Writers
​ 
To discuss your participation, call Emily 914.962.4432 or Contact Me ​Here. 
Read a personal, behind-the-scenes story about my journey of becoming a fiction writing Coach:  A Teacher Should Inspire.
The Fiction Writer's Journey | All Rights Reserved 2001-2022
emily@emilyhanlon.com
(914) 962.4432 ET
(914) 
​588.1282 ET
  • Home
  • All Programs
  • Hourly Private Programs
  • Manuscript Mentoring
  • About Emily
    • Audio: How Emily Became a Writing Coach
  • Sale
  • The Five Ingredients
  • Subscribe