Introducing "The Heart of It" writing retreats!

A brand new way to problem-solve, to rejuvenate, and to retreat in central New Mexico

Introducing The Heart of It, New Mexico: A new way to retreat

I’m just back from a relaxing vacation in Mexico and I’m excited to share news! I am launching my own line of writing retreats called The Heart of It and the first one—open to all genres and writers at all levels—will take place on a stunning private ranch in central New Mexico. It’s open for applications now!

Visit courtneymaum.com/writing-retreats for more info

As many of you know, I don’t have an MFA, so my first experience with a writing workshop took place at a summer conference I’d paid to attend. I brought along an experimental short story I loved that was racking up rejections. What I wanted to talk about with the teacher and students was why was it being rejected, was I sending it to the wrong places? Who would take a piece like this that had text in different languages and no discernible plot? But the writing workshop wasn’t structured that way. We were all invited to share 15 pages of whatever, and we weren’t allowed to talk during workshop, which meant I didn’t get to ask people to direct their feedback toward the problem I wanted to solve, but instead, had to hear a lot of randomized comments that got me further away from my goals and more confused about my material’s lack of success on the literary mag scene than I’d been before workshop.

The traditional writing workshop structure has its benefits, but it didn’t work for me.

While there is a benefit in learning how to hear/accept/reject feedback—because receiving arbitrary (and sometimes hurtful) comments on your work is a major part of an author’s life—there are hundreds of incredible writing workshops that will provide you with the traditional workshop experience. The Heart of It retreat is not that. The Heart of It is about problem-solving. It’s about coming together to ask hard and scary questions, and to fight them with solutions so you leave New Mexico with a reenergized sense of purpose, an actionable plan of attack and clarity around market considerations effecting your respective project(s). As I do in all my teaching and writing, I will be helping participants to write with both their heart and head so they feel confident in their craft and their understanding of publishing going forward.

Whether you have a finished manuscript or a series of notes and ideas about a manuscript, you are welcome at The Heart of It

Because we organize our workshops around problems the writer wants to solve, we’re able to welcome writers of many genres at different places in their careers. A morning workshop might feature a writer who has a difficult life story to tell, and needs help coming up with an organizing principle for the material before they can even start writing their memoir, followed by a writer with a finished essay collection who needs help with their platform. The following day, we might have someone who needs a new book title and a logline for their rom com, followed by someone whose historical fiction query letter needs a major overhaul.

The weeklong retreat will also offer “business of writing” afternoon electives, where we will troubleshoot the contemporary questions and challenges facing writers today. Sample topics: Should you have a newsletter and what should it be about? What the hell is a platform and what if you don’t have one? The components of a query letter. Unearthing the right comp titles. Agent Finding 101.

I haven’t even mentioned the fact that the week-long retreat takes place on a sprawling working ranch with exceptional views, private bedrooms, a private chef for every meal, rejuvenating extracurriculars like roping, dowsing and hiking, and margarita/mocktail nights. I could go on, but I updated my website to reflect everything that makes this retreat really special, so allow me to send you there! I hope you’ll check it out, and please do forward the retreat info to anyone you think would benefit from a writing retreat with me. Applications stay open until June 30th for the October retreat.

Thanks for being here! We’ll return to our regular programming Friday.