Hnausa, Manitoba, Canada
5 DAYS
$1797
who is ready for guidance and focused time to work towards finishing your book, then join Lauren Carter, award-winning, widely-published author of five books, for an immersive winter retreat into your memoir, novel, poetry or short story collection in a peaceful lakeside log cabin on Lake Winnipeg.
as you sit by the window and write. Snow drifts down on the limitless lake. The fire warms you in the stillness; the only sounds are the creak of the wooden cabin and the gentle clatter of laptop keys. There’s no rush, no deadlines—only the steady flow of your thoughts as you sink deeper into your creative process...
Soon it's time to join Lauren in a cozy, sunlit room to discuss your manuscript in depth. Delving into it together, you gain invaluable insights on what works, what needs refining, and how to polish your work. You leave each daily meeting transformed, inspired, and with a clear vision of how to bring your book closer to completion.
you sit at the table, sharing supper with the other writers. Conversations drift between reflections on the day’s work, ideas, and shared experiences of solitude and creative process.
There’s a sense of camaraderie, as though this place has drawn you together not just to write, but to connect, to find community.
You feel an intense wave of gratitude...
After a delicious, simple meal, as darkness wraps around the cozy cabin, you slip outside to take in the stars. Your body tingles as you gaze up at the Milky Way, a thick stream in the vast expanse of the onyx dome, so vivid this far from any city lights. You hunt the sky for Northern Lights and your imagination flies...
The heat of the wood stove welcomes you back inside. As you curl into a comfy chair, another idea ignites to clarify an existing scene or perfectly structure that tricky poem... Attending to your work once more, all that exists is this: the story you are revising, the poetry collection you're polishing, the pop and hiss of the fire, and the sparkling night outside.
You feel deeply present, as though the retreat has given you space not only to write, but to fully immerse inside a living creative flow.
You will feel fully a writer, deeply connected to your manuscript and able to confidently keep moving towards finishing your book.
You'll have obtained clear guidance to help you build a path towards making your book what you want it to be (and what it wants to be!)
Your creative instincts will have grown, overpowering those lingering doubts that you can't do it.
Your confidence will be bolstered and this will help you power forward towards completion…
And since no-one can do it alone, you will gain a solid community of other hard-working, devoted writers with memories of starry skies, crisp days, and camaraderie around the supper table!
Yes! It’s time to invest in focused time and wise guidance to make way for deep creativity so you can finally fulfill your dream of a completed book!
Warmed by a crackling fire, gaze out at yet another spectacular sunrise as you sip your morning coffee or tea.
Situated on the west shore of Lake Winnipeg, this log cabin duplex offers lots of space to relax, write, and connect--as well as a full view of the lake.
Curl up by one of two wood stoves with a gripping novel when you need a break from your own creative work. Or settle in on the couch to focus on stanza breaks or scene revision in one of two living rooms. Set up your laptop to work at the breakfast bar or on a dining room table.
Need fresh air? Walk the frozen beach, wander out on the thick ice, or bring your snowshoes or skis! Or go further afield: zip ten minutes up the highway to My Baba Ukrainian Restaurant for honey cake and coffee before exploring the Riverton thrift store. But don’t stay out too long! You have work to do!
Are you ready? Ready to enter creative flow and attend to your work in progress? Ready to set out on the next stage of your journey towards--finally!--finishing your book? I thought so!
Yes, you know that you have work to do on your manuscript. But you also know that you are capable of it! You wouldn't be reading this if that weren't true!
And who's to say what will happen if you give yourself--and your manuscript--the time, attention, focus and professional feedback it needs to grow, get better, and eventually completed. Truly, this retreat could change your life!
Over these five days you will:
I am a writer who intimately knows the frustration of wanting to finish a manuscript in the face of uncertainty about how to improve it and too many distractions. That's why I regularly go on retreat, either alone or with other artists, to focus and prioritize my creative work. Finding ways to slow down in order to deeply attend to our creative projects is essential! As the author Junot Diaz says, “The whole culture is telling you to hurry, while the art tells you to take your time. Always listen to the art.”
I have been listening to the art for my whole life. I’m the author of two poetry collections, a collection of short story, and two—soon to be three—novels. My last novel, This Has Nothing To Do With You, won the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction, and I was also named Manitoba’s Most Promising Writer In 2020. Places Like These, my spring 2023 short story collection, was a recommended read in the Globe and Mail and a finalist for the 2023 INDIES Book of the Year Awards.
I also have an MFA in Creative Writing and am certified in Teaching and Training Adults and in the Amherst Writers Workshop Method which posits "a writer is someone who writes.". Writers that I’ve worked with have obtained agents, signed publishing contracts, won or been shortlisted for awards, and learned how to manage anxiety and settle more deeply into their work. I hope that you will join me for Bring Your Book so I can help you immerse into your work, understand what it needs, and make progress towards its completion within the inspiring circle of a group of working writers.
Bonuses
