To see the current list of Retreats, Intensives and Classes please go to this link:
https://mailchi.mp/668d26488e79/zza6f6z4cj-9524137
Annual Writing Intensives and Retreats
Annual Writing Intensives and Retreats offer working writers an immersive, connected experience of diving into their work. Classes in both large and small groups are held over a number of consecutive days, providing daily structure, ideas, feedback, support and accountability. Some retreats and intensives are centered around themes and some are centered around writing goals or techniques or stages of development. Currently all intensives and retreats are taught online and are open to any interested writer.
Annual November 4-Day Writing Retreat
November 10-13, 2023
taught by Zoom
Hollowdeck has always offered a 4-day weekend writing retreat in the quiet of the small Atlantic beach town of Fenwick Island Delaware in November of each year. The beach is always empty in the early winter and the Delaware coast has been a beautiful quiet spot for our East Coast Writing community to dig down into some writing together. Writers have stayed in rental houses or apts in the Fenwick/Rehoboth/Bethany Beach area and met for daily classes in a beautiful beach house overlooking the sound.
However, in this time of constrained travel when it is not yet safe to gather and meet in person for classes and events, we have chosen to move this Retreat online and to offer it in a virtual format, taught on the Zoom platform. Of course it won’t be exactly the same as gathering together in the wind and waves of the beach, but it is still an amazing chance to gather our community of writers and dive deep to explore our theme and get some work done. Since this event has limited spots available, please contact Max to see if there are seats left.
In this 4-day class we will check in on on-going projects and reading/writing news. But we will also try some innovative, fun, low-key writing exercises designed to get each writer moving deeper into their own practice. What comes easily to you as a writer? Where do you get stuck or stopped?
Theme for Nov 2023: TBA
As always we will explore the theme and do a good deal of writing together. Our optional Salon reading is Monday night, for folks who want to present a little bit of work-in-progress and get some feedback and support from their peers. Remember, a Salon is NOT a performance of finished work, it’s just an chance for any interested writer to present 5 minutes of on-going work in community.
For this retreat private meetings with Max are optional for an additional charge. For writers with on-going work who would like to schedule a private meeting with Max before or during the weekend please just contact him directly via email at hollowdeckpress@mac.com . To see how editing, coaching and fees work click here for the Coaching and Editing page
FRIDAY :
4-7pm Class Session 1
SATURDAY :
10-12 Class Session 2
12-4pm Lunch and Writing time
4-6pm Class Session 3
6-7 Class Salon
SUNDAY :
10-12 Class Session 4
12-4pm Lunch and Writing time
4-6pm Class Session 5
MONDAY :
10am-1pm Class Session 6
Tuition for the 2020 retreat is $450. You are always welcome to pay with a credit card (for any amount) if that is what works best for you. To pay with a credit card you can do that at the bottom of the Home page on this site using the Pay Pal link. But if you are able to pay by check (for tuition payments over $250 checks are easiest for us to process) you can make checks out to Max Regan, and send to 1006 Grandview Ave. Boulder, CO 80302. Registration is limited so please contact Max to check on availability.
Recent Themes:
November 2022 Retreat: The Landscape of The Body: Exploring EcoSomatics and the Territories of Self
The relationship we have with our physical, emotional and spiritual body is often considered to be the most intimate relationship we will have in this lifetime. The territory of the body is the site of curiosity, strength, joy, pain, wonder, power and regret. This relationship begins as we begin, with the emergence into being. But from our earliest forms, we are already being shaped by the landscapes around us. The mother’s body, the hands that catch us, the room we are born into, the roof under which we sleep. This is where the deep adventure of Eco-Somatics begins, in the simple questions; how have the landscapes you have lived in, loved, chosen or survived shaped your body? And how has your life in the body shaped those landscapes? This symmetrical relationship, beautiful and fraught, defines much of our lives.
These central questions about how landscape and body shape one another are vital for writers of poetry, fiction and non-fiction. Your un-lived selves, your friends and relations and each of your characters are also navigating the constant deep waters of place and body, so this weekend we will explore their relationships with self and place as well. To help us unpack these ideas we will investigate the work of scholar Petra Kuppers and the writings of Maxine Hong Kingston, among others. Of course the somatic can be difficult territory, so remember, we are not simply writing ABOUT the body, we are writing FROM it, and about the vital relationship between our bodies and the landscapes that define us.
In class sessions we will explore the theme and do a good deal of writing together. Together we will also try some innovative, fun, low-key writing exercises designed to get each writer moving deeper into their own practice. Open to writers in any genre, no experience necessary!
PLEASE NOTE: This Theme will be taught in a general writing weekend open to any interested writer, on Sat March 11 and Sunday March 12, 2023
November 2021 Retreat: Evolution / Revolution
We are living as working writers in somewhat unprecedented times. And the ways in which we are evolving, personally and creatively, have never been more vital. The word Evolution comes from the Latin word Evolutio, meaning opening or unrolling or “opening out” as one might unroll a map or scroll. The word invites us to examine our own forward movement, where we are progressing in our craft and in ourselves and what might be blocking or stopping us. We are all on this journey, shifting in gradual development into more complex writers and more nuanced ways of sculpting our choices and our lives. And where there is Evolution, Revolution soon follows, sea changes in our world, our selves and our writing lives call out for brave experiments and quiet revolutions within the way we think and dream and make.
Stories and plots serve a primary role; they illustrate how a character (real or imagined) transforms, changes, evolves, comes more fully into being. Together we will examine beliefs, memories and invented stories of both Evolution and Revolution, looking at how those themes and ideas intersect with the Drafting Process for writers and where we find those themes in our own work as well as in the books and stories that surround us. As poets and non-fiction writers/ memoirists and fiction writers, we will explore not only our own extended states of Evolution and Revolution, but those of our characters as well. As always, I will offer a collection of daily exercises and tools designed to keep you writing well into the new year!
Annual January 4-Day Writing Projects Intensive
January 6-9, 2023 session 1
January 13-16, 2023 session 2
taught by Zoom
Every January we offer a 4-day writing projects intensive to get the New Year started off with focus and a burst of creative energy. In previous years we have taught this intensive at Spectrum Center in the vibrant city of Houston, TX but this year the Intensive will be taught in a virtual format, on the Zoom platform.
This intensive is one of the highlights of the Hollowdeck yearly schedule, it is designed to get your new year started with a strong and organized leap into your writing life. As the year begins it’s a great time to take a deep breath and pull that on-going writing project or idea back up onto your desk and dig in. Let’s make this the year you bring it to life!! This writing intensive includes daily class sessions and one private meeting with Max. Your project might be a novel, a story, a memoir, a how-to or children’s book. It might be a collection of poems, a fantasy novel or a family history. You might have piles of drafts and notes or just a small idea in the back of your head and heart that wont go away. Regardless of what stage of the writing process you are in, this immersive retreat will help you bring your project to life.
The goal for this Intensive is simply to focus on your writing project, without distractions or procrastination. Writers will be divided into 2 small working groups. We get started with an evening session on Friday night, then each small group will meet for 2 hrs once a day on Saturday, Sunday and Monday to talk and strategize about the work that needs to be done. Monday night we will gather again as a full class to discuss what steps come next and how to keep the momentum going. Together we will discuss your project and come up with a work-plan customized for each student, outlining your goals and discussing the aspects of the writer’s craft that will help you accomplish your work.
Each writer will have a lot of solo work time during every day. Max will also schedule a 1hr one-on-one private session with each writer prior to the start of the Intensive to discuss your specific project, text and goals. By the end of the Intensive each project should be more structured and well underway. This retreat is open to any interested writer, regardless of geography, experience, genre or stage of development. We welcome all your messy files, old journals, disorganized pages and wild ideas, no matter how tiny or gigantic!
Draft of the 2021 January Retreat Schedule: all times are in MTN/ Colorado time zone
Please NOTE: all times below are in Colorado/MTN time zone. If you are in TX your class times will be an hour later than the times below. If you are on the East Coast your class times will be 2 hours later.
Tuesday
Private session times with Max by phone
Friday
4-6:30pm Opening class – whole group
Saturday
11-1 Small Group A class
1:30-3:30 Small Group B class
Sunday
11-1 Small Group A class
1:30-3:30 Small Group B class
Monday
9-11 Small Group A class
11:30-1:30 Small Group B class
4-5:30 Closing class – whole group
Please Note: For those writers who might also be planning to sign up for the big Annual June Writing Projects 10-Day Retreat (see below) this four-day January Projects Retreat is a great way to get organized and get your text and your goals underway as you head towards June! There will, of course, be different curriculum, exercises and techniques used in each retreat.
Registration
To register please email Max at hollowdeckpress@mac.com Tuition for the Intensive is $450, ($850 for both sessions) which includes 2 large group classes, 3 small group classes and one private 1hr session with Max. You are always welcome to pay with a credit card (for any amount) if that is what works best for you. To pay with a credit card you can do that at the bottom of the Home page on this site using the Pay Pal link. But if you are able to pay by check (for tuition payments over $250 checks are easiest for us to process) you can make checks out to Max Regan, and send to 1006 Grandview Ave. Boulder, CO 80302. Registration is limited so please contact Max to check on availability.
The Annual June 10-Day Writing Projects Retreats
taught by Zoom
Session 1: June 2-12, 2023
Session 2: June 16-26, 2023
In June of each year we offer two sessions of the Annual 10-Day Writing Projects Retreat, the centerpoint of our teaching year here at Hollowdeck. For many years these retreats were taught in person here in the beautiful town of Boulder, CO at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. However, in response to the global health crisis these classes will now be offered via Zoom, an easy to use online conferencing tool. Using Zoom is free and you do not need an account to join a Zoom meeting or class.
In previous years this retreat was only available to those writers who could travel to Boulder to join us for 10 days. Costs associated with travel, airfare, housing and food as well as the need to be away from family and work for 10 days sometimes kept certain writers from being able to join us. But, as we found in the June 2020 retreats, working together online was an AMAZING way to gather writers from all around the world to deepen and expand our writing crafts and move our projects forward!
This annual retreat is for writers with a current writing project or idea. What if you had 10 days just to focus on your writing? We all have writing projects that end up “on the back burner” waiting for us to have the time to pull out those files and notebooks, sit down, get organized and really get some writing done. This 10- day writing retreat is a chance to dedicate some time to getting your writing project off the ground. We will meet together in small groups once a day to talk and strategize about the work that needs to be done. Together we will discuss your project and come up with a work-plan customized for each student. Every other evening we will hold a virtual Salon to hear some of your work-in-progress.
Tuition includes daily classes, two private sessions with Max to discuss your project in-depth, as well as 5 virtual salons to examine work in progress. By the end of the week each project should be more structured and well underway. Two different Retreat sessions are offered in June, and each session is a separate event with its own roster and curriculum. For writers who want a whole month of writing (“marathoners”) Max builds specific month-long curriculum and community.
What is your Writing Project?
Maybe you have an unfinished novel or story. Maybe you have a stack of journals that you have always wanted to transform into a memoir. Maybe you are right in the middle of a writing project and need to get the whole thing organized. Maybe you have a series of poems you would love to edit and turn into a collection. Maybe you have a family lineage project, a book or collection of stories you would like to leave for future generations. Maybe you are on the final edit of a book before you send it out to publishers and you need to read it with new eyes. Or maybe you just have a persistent, compelling idea for a project that will simply not leave you alone. Regardless of what stage of the writing process you are in, this immersive 10 days of working every day will help you bring your project to life.
Daily Retreat Schedule
The goal is simply to focus on your writing project, with as little distraction or procrastination as possible. Our group will be divided into two small working groups, with 5 to 8 writers each. Each small group will meet once a day for a 2hour class, either in the morning or in the evening. If your group met in the morning yesterday then you will meet in the evening today. During our daily classes we will sit and outline your goals and discuss the aspects of the writer’s craft that will help you accomplish your work. What do you want to get done? Where are you stuck? What comes easily? Where will you do your work today? Our hope is that each writer will have solo work time during every day to dig into the work. Every other evening we will meet for a group virtual Salon, a chance to check in, see how the work went, and read to one another from the work in progress. Max will schedule two one-on-one private sessions with each writer, one at the beginning of the retreat and one at the end, to discuss your specific project, text and goals.
DRAFT of RETREAT DAILY SCHEDULE for 2022: all times are Colorado/ Mountain time zone
Please Note: All times and events are subject to change. Due to the nature of the retreat Max will assign each student a small group, a salon reading spot and a specific day and time to meet for the 2 private sessions. Your private session with Max might take place in the week before the retreat or after the retreat. Unfortunately we cannot customize the rest of daily schedule to accommodate the schedule of each writer, but we will do our best! All times listed are in Mountain Time/ Colorado time, please make adjustments for your local time zone. The weekly schedule below applies to both sessions for the retreat, but each session will have unique curriculum.
All times below are in Mountain time/ Colorado time so please TRANSLATE all events into your local time zone! all events will be held via zoom, and Max will send out the link before classes begin, you will use the SAME zoom link for all events.
Your first 1hr Private Sessions with Max might be scheduled on one of the 3 days prior to the start of the session, Max will be in touch in May to find times and dates for these meetings that work for all parties.
Friday
Private Sessions with Max will be scheduled throughout the day
5- 6pm Welcome Zoom Dinner (whole group)
I am hoping that Friday will be the day you set up your writing space, pull out all your project work out onto your desk and start reading/ organizing and getting ready to roll! This fun Zoom Dinner on Friday night is our first event, just a chance to say hello, chat about what we’re reading and doing and talk with one another informally before our work together begins on Sunday. So make yourself some dinner, pour a glass of wine and join us to hang out and say hello!
Saturday
11-1pm Opening Session (whole group)
We will gather as a large group to discuss our schedule for the week and some orientation information. We will also dive into some concrete strategies for setting up your writing project, your goals, hopes, fears, your tools and workspace, etc. The rest of this Saturday will be free for each writer to relax and dig into the work
Private Sessions with Max will be scheduled throughout the day
Sunday
Small groups meet each day and give us a chance to dig more fully into the work, hear a bit about each individual project and each writer’s source material, project stage and methods. This year, by request, I have standardized the time at which each group meets each day. These sessions are a combination of presentations on different aspects of the writer’s craft and problem-solving customized for each project. We will also hear a bit of the work itself as it develops, even if we are just working with fragments or notes.
10-12:30 Group A – Small Group meets
(Small Group A is: the “Marathon” writers attending both sessions of the retreat))
12:30-3 Group B – Small Group meets
(Small Group B is: the writers who are only here for Session 1)
5- 6:30pm SALON #1
Individual Readers: TBA
This is our chance to hear from a few our our classmates as we get launched into Salon #1! Readers in this Salon have a definite advantage, they get their reading out of the way on day one and then can kick back and enjoy the other 4 Salons this week! Remember, we are NOT reading finished work and this is NOT a performance, we just want to hear your voice and a few pages of the work-in-progress. READERS: Please time your work by practicing reading it out loud! 1000 words MAXIMUM, (no minimum) and please do a word count in advance of the salon to make sure the sample you are reading fits within this limit.
Monday
10-12:30 Group A – Small Group meets
12:30-3 Group B – Small Group meets
Tuesday
10-12:30 Group A – Small Group meets
12:30-3 Group B – Small Group meets
5- 6:30pm SALON #2
Individual Readers: TBA
Remember, we are NOT reading finished work and this is NOT a performance, we just want to hear your voice and a few pages of the work-in-progress. READERS: Please time your work by practicing reading it out loud! 1000 words MAXIMUM, (no minimum) and please do a word count in advance of the salon to make sure the sample you are reading fits within this limit.
Wednesday
The day is yours to sleep in, relax, write, anything you choose. While there are no class events scheduled for this day, there might be some one-on-one sessions with Max scheduled or (for those of your who will be here in Boulder) maybe a chance to meet briefly in the park and wave a masked hello to one another. For Retreat writers Wed is always a great chance to spend much needed non-computer time to be off Zoom and chill out! Rest, read, write, walk the dog, hang out with loved ones, just recharge and we will see you Thursday!
Private Sessions with Max will be scheduled throughout the day
Thursday
10-12:30 Group A – Small Group meets
12:30-3 Group B – Small Group meets
5- 6:30pm SALON #3
Individual Readers: TBA
Remember, we are NOT reading finished work and this is NOT a performance, we just want to hear your voice and a few pages of the work-in-progress. READERS: Please time your work by practicing reading it out loud! 1000 words MAXIMUM, (no minimum) and please do a word count in advance of the salon to make sure the sample you are reading fits within this limit.
Friday
10-12:30 Group A – Small Group meets
12:30-3 Group B – Small Group meets
Saturday
10-12:30 Group A – Small Group meets
12:30-3 Group B – Small Group meets
5- 6:30pm SALON #4
Individual Readers: TBA
Remember, we are NOT reading finished work and this is NOT a performance, we just want to hear your voice and a few pages of the work-in-progress. READERS: Please time your work by practicing reading it out loud! 1000 words MAXIMUM, (no minimum) and please do a word count in advance of the salon to make sure the sample you are reading fits within this limit.
Sunday
This final Sunday is a chance to have the day to catch up on whatever last writing tasks are on your desk and to set up your work so that you can keep your momentum going even after the retreat ends.
Private Sessions with Max will be scheduled throughout the day
5-6:30pm Guest Lecture , instructor TBA
(whole group/ optional)
Monday
11-1pm Closing Session (whole group)
As we get ready to head back into our daily lives we will meet one last time to talk about what you accomplished and to set up the steps that come next. This will include information on publishing options and ways to move the work out into the world.
Private Sessions with Max will be scheduled throughout the day
4- 5:30pm SALON #5 (please note this Salon will start earlier than usual)
Individual Readers: TBA
Remember, we are NOT reading finished work and this is NOT a performance, we just want to hear your voice and a few pages of the work-in-progress. READERS: Please time your work by practicing reading it out loud! 1000 words MAXIMUM, (no minimum) and please do a word count in advance of the salon to make sure the sample you are reading fits within this limit.
The Option of “Marathoning”
For some writers a 10 day retreat simply isn’t long enough. Each year there is a small group of folks who choose to be “Marathoners” and take the whole month of June to work, signing up for both sessions of the Retreat. Writers who choose this option will be placed in their own daily small group, with completely new curriculum in Session 1 and Session 2, so that they can support each other throughout the month. The goal is to fully support these folks and create and maintain a strong core community in order to keep their work moving forward. Marathoners in previous years have been able to vision, organize, research and generate a vast amount of work on their literary project and have also had time to tackle more than one project over the course of the month, setting themselves up to complete major goals as they move into the rest of the year. In 2021 we will be offering a $100 discount on the total tuition to writers who choose the Marathoning option.
Reading/Evaluation of Manuscripts prior to Retreat
For writers with on-going work, design documents or for those who have longer manuscripts in progress, Max will be glad to read/ evaluate your work prior to the retreat. This work must be set up in the month of May, so please contact Max if you would like to schedule work for reading/ evaluation.
Registration
Tuition is $1500 and a $500 non-refundable deposit is required upon Registration, which holds your place in the class. If you require a Payment Plan please contact Max as soon as possible. For cancellations after May 1st students are responsible for the full tuition.
A portion of each student tuition will be donated to the Boulder Bookstore, our traditional location for daily retreat writing classes and events. Due to the severe impact on local independent bookstores, we are committed to seeing Boulder Bookstore thrive and continue to support the community of Boulder.
Registration for the retreat is limited. This retreat fills to capacity almost every year but there is a waiting list, so if you would like to join us please email Max right away. To register or if you have any questions about the Retreat, payment plans, logistics or anything else, just email Max at hollowdeckpress@mac.com