July 5 – 7, 2024 Weekend Retreat
July 5 – 12, 2024 Weeklong Residency
Join us at the historic Galilee Centre on the Ottawa River for a Writers in Residence program.
Take an opportunity to learn from published authors, meet other local writers, and set aside time to write!
Click here to register online!
Experience Options
- Day Pass – $100 (Saturday OR Sunday) Includes: Private writing space, lunch, workshops & presentations until 4 pm.
- 3-Day Weekend Pass: $325 (Friday – Sunday) Includes: 2 nights accommodations, all meals, all workshops & presentations.
- 7-Day Residency: $990 (Friday – Friday) Includes: 7 nights accommodations, all meals, weekend workshops & presentations, 1 on 1 coaching, weekday programming.
Authors & Workshop Leaders
- Keynote Author and Writing Coach: Marie Bilodeau
- Featured Authors/Presenters: Brandon Crilly, Lydia M. Hawke, Kate Heartfield
- Ottawa Valley Authors/Presenters: Amy Belder, Kinsey Maxwell, Anne Kathleen McLaughlin, David Mulholland, Caroline Robbins, and more!
Program Schedule & Workshop descriptions
Friday, July 5 – Registration opens 3 pm, Evening Welcome Dinner and Keynote Address
Saturday, July 6 – Program from 8 am – 7 pm, two workshops, writing time, booking sales
Sunday, July 7 – Program from 8 am – 4 pm, two workshops, writing time, book sales
Monday, July 8 – Friday, July 12 – Writing time, 1-on-1 coaching sessions, presentations/workshops
| Keynote Author: Marie Bilodeau Everything about characters! Who’s driving your story, and why? We’ll talk about goal, motivation, and conflict (internal vs. external) for protagonists, antagonists, and secondary characters. Push the boundaries of character development. Learn how to avoid clichés and get to know your character’s limits. How much can they take before breaking? And how can you keep them believable throughout your story? Filled with exercises – bring a notebook!  |
| Kate Heartfield Research Strategies for Fiction Writers Whether you’re writing a cozy mystery, a space opera, or a quiet coming of age story set in your home town, there’s always some fact you’ll need to know or check. Internet search engines can be a good place to start, but they can also be frustratingly inadequate. In this workshop, a writer of historical fantasy and science fiction shares techniques and approaches for finding the good stuff, along with strategies for how to prevent the need for research from swamping a project. The workshop will include some exercises. Applicable for fiction writers of any genre and of any level of experience.  |
| Lydia Hawke Fighting Saboteurs A crash course on tapping into your creativity and shutting down your writing saboteurs … effortlessly. Based in neuroscience, this workshop will teach you what your writing saboteurs are (and where they come from), how to recognize and shut them down, how to tap into the creative flow that is available to all of us, how to get back on track if you get sideswiped, and more. Brandon Crilly Playing with Form to Become a Better Writer One of the most universal pieces of writing advice out there is: practice. Learn how playing with an unfamiliar form can not only be fun, but incredibly useful for your craft. Comics, are a way to practice description. Creative non-fiction requires developing voice. Games writing is all about connecting with a player (or reader). |
| More workshops and presentations will be available over the weekend and through the week. |