Types of retreats

Connect with your creativity.
Honor your courage.
Nourish your body.
Claim your voice.

Jess here! I offer four kinds of writing retreats, which I’ll list below to help you decide which is the best fit for you. All four follow the Amherst Method and are appropriate for every level of writer, from beginning to multi-published.

• Unplug and Write Retreat. Also simply called a women’s writing retreat. This 6-7 day retreat helps you to clarify your project and take a deep dive into it, whether you’re writing a children’s story, a short story, a novella or novel, memoir, or self-help book.

• Write and Publish Retreat. The 6-7 day Write and Publish women’s writing retreat offers the same content as the Unplug and Write Retreat with an eye toward publishing. It includes a publishing workshop which covers self- and traditional publishing.

• Specialty (Romance, Mystery, Memoir, or Self-publishing) Retreat. This 6-7 day women’s writing retreat offers the same content as Unplug and Write, except it’s geared toward writing a romance novel, writing crime fiction, writing a memoir, or self-publishing and marketing a project, depending on the theme for that retreat.

• Weekend Retreat. Weekend retreats are coed, content-intensive retreats that squeeze all of the material of a week retreat into two days. These retreats are for people who are short on time but big on dreams and for men or women who prefer a coed retreat.

The full retreats (the first three listed above) all offer this:

• An inspiring location

• Two retreat leaders (Jess plus another incredible creative) to make sure you get the attention you deserve

• Dedicated relaxation time to write, shop, nap, get a spa treatment, explore, or just listen to your body

In addition, some of the full retreats are all-inclusive, some also offer yoga and meditation, and many include afternoon tours so you can explore your environment and take home great photos and bragging rights. These perks will be listed in the full description.

Can you take the same retreat twice? Absolutely. You can take it three times, four times, five. In fact, about 25% of the women at each retreat are repeaters. Where you’re at in life, where you’re at in your project, and which project you’re currently focused on all change how you receive the teachings. Plus, Jess updates her materials regularly based on new information and techniques she acquires, and the guest teachers and locations rotate. Finally, creativity, community, play, and self-care are always important.

Still have questions? Click the blue button below. I’d love to hear from you!

Retreat Leader

Jess Lourey is a TEDx presenter, Psychology Today blogger, creative writing professor with 20+years teaching experience, winner of The Loft’s Excellence in Teaching Fellowship, and the Amazon Charts bestselling author of 20+ books and multiple short stories, essays, and blog posts across genres. She wants to help you write the story you were born to write.