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Writing retreat with author Helen Garlick at the Smugglers Rest, Mortehoe.
A writing retreat like no other, this interactive course is designed to give you the space, encouragement and freedom to write, reflect, and find your path back to yourself and your story with boosts of enthusiasm, insight, support and inspiration.
The Power of Owning Your Story writing retreat has been specifically created for writers (fiction, memoir and/or short story) who really want to get their writing successfully underway. Where better to tap into the flow of creative energy than in a timeless village set on the edge of the Atlantic, looking straight out towards Lundy – and then America.
Mortehoe and its surrounding area offers an extraordinary space to be inspired and power forward with your writing. Like all wildernesses, the headland of Morte feels hidden, a place of intense stillness, gifting visitors an uncanny sense of coming home. As the National Trust sign states at the entrance to the walk leading to Morte Point, ‘Morte is the place that heaven made last and the devil will take first’.
We will benefit from whatever the weather throws at us. If it’s beautifully sunny with clear skies, you might walk locally in this designated world class area of outstanding natural beauty or even go in the sparkling blue sea. Participants can also choose to go out at night to look at the stars. The weather of North Devon is however unpredictable so if we have rain, wind and storms, then the weather gods are smiling at us in their own way: more time to write indoors, with a warm welcome at Smugglers Rest. It’ll all be good (and, in any event, good copy.)
Please arrange a phone call with Helen for a chat to make sure that the course is right for you. Set up your chat by emailing hello@helengarlick.com.
We will need a minimum balance to secure your booking, the balance to be paid by no later than 3 months prior to the retreat. Refunds only available if your space can be filled by another participant.
We CAN’T WAIT for you to join us.
Allow yourself to begin to dream how this could be …
These are approximate timings for the course (subject to change).
Theme: Hello and welcome!
Arrival from 2pm onwards.
2.30pm – 3.30pm Hot chocolate, Devon cream tea (and cold refreshments). Settling in to your rooms and environment and opening the swag bag!
4pm – 5pm Orientation to the course, venue, programme and Mortehoe. Introductory exercise. Aims, objectives, setting intentions. Group chat.
5pm In conversation with Will Jones: Insights into the Smugglers Rest and the stories of the people behind it.
6.30pm Dinner at Miss Fea’s Bistro – free time thereafter to write/relax.
Themes: Inspiration. Landscape. Key Elements to Writing Success. Writing Habits.
8am – 9am Breakfast in Miss Fea’s Bistro
9.30am – 11am A sense of place. Getting grounded. Your landscape and weather. Immersive writing involving all of the senses. Silent walking.
Exercise: Your place on the planet.
Packed lunch available to collect. Your time. Opportunity to write/walk/relax etc.
2pm – 3.30pm Successful writing habits. Making writing work for you, whether you’re a night owl or morning lark (or a mix of both). Owning being a writer and carving out your space. Journaling. Writing it all down. Dealing with the enemy of distraction. Believing in and taking care of yourself.
3.30pm – 5pm Your space. Time to write/relax/walk.
5pm Reconvene. Joined by locally based internationally renowned author Veronica Henry (TBC) for a talk and question time. Ronnie will join us for dinner too.
6.30 pm Dinner at Miss Fea’s Bistro.
Themes: Character. The hero’s journey, flaws and all. Relationships and challenges.
8am – 9am Breakfast at Miss Fea’s Bistro.
9.30 – 11am Creating characters and meaningful stories relevant for our time. Truth in fiction and memoir. Spending time with character(s) and getting to know them.
Writing exercise: Here I am.
Light lunch (soup) at Miss Fea’s Bistro. Followed by your own time. Opportunity to write/relax/walk
2pm – 3.30pm Your character’s interactions and motivation. Relationships. Yearning and desire. Conflict. Resolution. Endings. Beginnings. Emotions. What to leave out and what to keep in. Hope. Writing exercise (based on song lyrics).
3.30pm – 5pm Your space. Time to write/relax/walk
5pm Reconvene. Joined by local writer Elizabeth Delo (Becoming Liz Taylor pub August 2023) (TBC) for a talk and question time. Liz will join us for dinner too.
6.30pm Dinner at Miss Fea’s Bistro.
Themes: Your story. Your audience. Your purpose.
8am – 9am Breakfast
9.30am – 11am Plot and the Narrative Arc. Scene creation. Using a screenplay approach, how can you create lean, mesmerising, compelling stories which hook the reader in? Dialogue. Spaces between words: creating space to honour your reader. Rock bottom. Finding ways through. Redemption. Twists in the tale. Dreams and signs. The writer’s lens on to the world. Writing Exercise: a Tale of the Unexpected.
Packed lunch available. Your time. Opportunity to write/relax/walk
12.45pm Optional walk to visit the seals on Morte Point with Helen (approx. 90 mins – weather permitting). Low tide is TBC.
Sturdy walking shoes, quite possibly waterproofs and suitable walking gear needed.
3.45 – 5.15pm Your audience. Your purpose. Who are you writing for? Who or what is stopping you writing? Exercise: Your Audience.
Your goals/plans for the future.
5.00pm – 6.30pm Joined by local writer and harpist Hazel Prior (confirmed).
6.30pm Dinner at Miss Fea’s bistro.
Brunch and goodbyes
Please arrange a phone call with Helen for a chat to make sure that the course is right for you. Set up your chat by emailing hello@helengarlick.com.
We will need a minimum balance to secure your booking, the balance to be paid by no later than 3 months prior to the retreat. Refunds only available if your space can be filled by another participant.
We CAN’T WAIT for you to join us.
Allow yourself to begin to dream how this could be …
