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You will be met by members of the welcome staff as the group gathers in Antigua at the colonial hotel for dinner, a good night’s sleep and a typical Guatemalan breakfast in the morning. On February 14th, the group makes the trip together by van to the shores of Lake Atitlan and the site of the workshop -- San Marcos La Laguna.

After you have a chance to settle into your house or hotel, the group meets for appetizers, drinks and a dinner with the writing faculty. This year, in addition to Joyce Maynard, faculty include: Ann Hood (special guest for the past 3 years), Francesco Sedita (a top Young Adult writer/editor from a major NYC publishing house), and Hope Edelman (author of the bestseller Motherless Daughters, and a beautiful new memoir, The Possibility of Everything).

Each morning, after breakfast and a brief session on a specific topic (craft, structure, point of view or voice), there are daily workshop sessions held by Joyce, Ann or jointly. In these hour-long workshop sessions, each writer’s individual manuscript -- a 3,000 word piece of work submitted prior to the workshop -- is critiqued and discussed in a way that will be helpful to every member of the group. Generally, three or four manuscripts are critiqued during the day, with a small break between each session and an hour break for lunch. At 5 p.m., anyone who chooses is welcome to join the faculty for a directed free-write before dinner at sunset. Each evening, after  appetizers, dinner and drinks, there are fire-side readings. For these “open mic” type readings, you are encouraged to bring down work other than your manuscript or to read something you write during the week. (For a very detailed version of the workshop schedule, Click Here.)

With the exception of a few guided excursions to the local market, weaving collectives or local hiking trails, the days are extremely full of scheduled sessions. In fact, you can attend workshops, free-writes, readings, and craft discussion from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. There is not a lot of built-in free time to just sit and write on your own.

However, you are welcome to pick and choose the sessions as you need to. You can take part in the workshops, free-writes or nightly readings if that is what is best for you. Or you can slip out after breakfast and go sit on the dock to write a new chapter for your novel. We structure the workshop this way so that you can spend your time the best way for you. We offer a tremendous amount of instruction, facilitation and information, but if you want to go swimming, clear your head, climb a volcano, or write all day, we support you in that.

On the last evening, there is a wood-fire pizza party at Joyce’s house, complete with margaritas, music and dancing. And, like all meals, whether at the workshop site or in town, the food is delicious, made from local ingredients, and is included in your tuition.                           

The next morning, February 21st, the group heads back to Guatemala City for departing flights. Just as transportation from Antigua to San Marcos is taken care of by your tuition, transportation back to Guatemala City Airport is included. However, many past participants have chosen to wave goodbye to the group on the dock and spend the next week in San Marcos on their own. They say that they were able to apply all they learned during the workshop week to a great new piece of work or to an extensive edit of their manuscript.

In order to help make the workshop more affordable, there are varying levels of accommodation. Based on your own budget, you can choose what is most important to you: shared or private bath, more rustic accommodations with more walking or stairs, a lake view, a room in a private house, etc. For this reason, we list housing and tuition separately. Please check out the COSTS page for more information on how to choose your room.

To attend this workshop, please submit a short sample of your writing (no more than 1,000 words) by email, with a short letter about yourself and goals for the workshop. You are not judged by whether or not you have published work, but the staff does want to make sure that the group will be one in which everyone's goals are compatible. After acceptance, and when the workshop date gets closer, you'll be asked to submit a manuscript of up to 3,000 words in length to be workshopped. Please visit the APPLY page to learn more.

Ann Hood,

Special Guest Faculty Member

View from workshop site

Local fruit for breakfast

Nightly readings by the fire

Your workshop, your choice how you spend it.

INTERESTED IN 2011? PLANNING IS UNDERWAY. CHECK BACK SOON!