This retreat is for writers, readers, dreamers (hey! that's you!) who seek a weekend of stillness, solitude, and reflection. This is not a retreat of "doing." It's a retreat of "being." There are no workshops, no readings, no schedules (other than for meals and meditation opportunities.) There are no expectations for participation in anything other than your own renewal. Retreaters may choose to write, journal, draw, color, read, knit, meditate, nap, think, or pray. The key is to bask in stillness, to let the quiet soak into your skin and into your heart.

Participants will stay in private bedroom/bathroom suites and will have access to common spaces such as the library, reading room, and writing porch. If they wish, participants can hike within the 65 acres of colony property and explore the winter gardens. All meals are provided.

Details:
Place: Rockvale Writers' Colony, 6994 Giles Hill Road, College Grove, TN
Time and Date: 4:00 p.m. Friday, November 17 to 11:00 a.m. Sunday, November 19, 2023
Cost: $350.00 (tax included) A $100 non-refundable deposit is due upon registration. Balance is due on October 20, 2023.
Includes: 2 nights in a private bedroom/bathroom suite, access to RWC common areas, gardens, and hiking trails, 5 meals with wine at dinner, time and space for quiet peace and renewal.

Information:
Writing draws on our whole being and its demands can both energize and deplete us emotionally and physically. This retreat will engage every layer of our nervous systems from skin to fascia to brain and explore how we can connect more deeply with the energy that is both within and around us.

We will explore mind, body, and spirit replenishing techniques from the teachings of yoga, meditation, and acupressure. We will put these teachings in conversation with current research from the fields of social neuroscience and interpersonal neurobiology, as well as with our own writing. Participants will come away with tools for their own somato-spiritual practices, as well as pages from journal prompts, free-writes, and their own unstructured writing time. We will gather for four workshops, and there will also be the option for one-on-one yoga and/or whole body relaxation practices with the facilitator. There will also be ample time for writing, resting, contemplating, and walking Rockvale's trails.

Details:
Place: Rockvale Writers' Colony, 6994 Giles Hill Road, College Grove, TN
Time and Date: 4:00 p.m. Friday, September 29 to 11:00 a.m. Sunday, October 1, 2023
Cost: $450.00 (tax included) $100 non-refundable deposit is due upon registration. Balance is due by September 1, 2023.
Includes: 2 nights in a private bedroom/bathroom suite, access to RWC common areas, gardens, and hiking trails, 5 meals with wine at dinner, 4 workshops, and community with other writers.

Information:
Women writers have a unique way of experiencing the world. We also have unique challenges that come with our deep dive into creativity. This retreat is meant to inspire, empower, and support women writers as they claim their place in a world too often unsupportive, and at times, even hostile. We’ll employ gentle yoga, breathing, and meditation techniques as we seek to understand and enjoy our own magic. We’ll learn how to start believing in possibilities, abundance, creativity, and ourselves in order to accomplish the things our hearts long for. Do you believe in magic? Do you believe in yourself? Join us for this special women-only retreat and learn why you should!

Details:
Place: Rockvale Writers' Colony, 6994 Giles Hill Road, College Grove, TN
Time and Date: 4:00 p.m. Friday, November3 to 11:00 a.m. Sunday, November 5, 2023
Cost: $450.00 (tax included) $100 non-refundable deposit is due upon registration. Balance is due by October 6, 2023.
Includes: 2 nights in a private bedroom/bathroom suite, access to RWC common areas, gardens, and hiking trails, 5 meals with wine at dinner, 4 workshops, and community with other writers.

Information:
Ask me about a novel I read last year, and at best I’ll give a blurry summary. But ask me about the books I read in childhood, and often I can not only recall character traits and plot points but recite lines verbatim. Children’s books change lives and leave a lasting imprint. As noted education professor Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop wrote, literature offers children “mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors,” inviting readers to see their own “lives and experiences as part of the larger human experience.”

Writing for children is important—and fun!—but not easy. As picture book giant Eric Carle (The Hungry Caterpillar) remarked, these stories are “deceptively simple.” Lower word counts do not mean less work.

Designed as an introduction or refresher for pre-published writers, this retreat will survey the givens and the controversies of contemporary children’s literature and offer techniques and tips for honing craft, delighting readers, and pursuing publication. Although picture books will serve as mentor texts, the workshops will touch upon similarities and differences in middle grade and young adult fiction and nonfiction.

Details:
Place: Rockvale Writers' Colony, 6994 Giles Hill Road, College Grove, TN
Time and Date: 4:00 p.m. Friday, August 4 to 11:00 a.m. Sunday, August 6, 2023
Cost: $450.00 (tax included) $100 non-refundable deposit is due upon registration. Balance is due by July 7, 2023.
Includes: 2 nights in a private bedroom/bathroom suite, access to RWC common areas, gardens, and hiking trails, 5 meals with wine at dinner, 5 workshops, community with other writers.

Information:
Drawing upon the principles of Shinrin-yoku, a Japanese wellness practice that can be translated as
"taking in the forest atmosphere," forest bathing involves connecting with nature using all five senses.
Through the relational and ecological practices of forest bathing, we come into deeper contact with
ourselves and the more-than-human world that we inhabit.

During this weekend retreat, we will meander, sit, breathe, move, play, and rest in the beautiful forest
surrounding Rockvale. In addition to several forest bathing sessions, there will also be integrative
conversations in which we will consider various ways in which a forest bathing practice can impact the
embodied processes involved in writing. Unstructured time for wandering alone in the woods and
writing freely will also be included in the schedule for the weekend.

Details:
Place: Rockvale Writers' Colony, 6994 Giles Hill Road, College Grove, TN
Time and Date: 4:00 p.m. Friday, October 6 to 11:00 a.m. Sunday, October 8, 2023
Cost: $450.00 (tax included) $100 non-refundable deposit is due upon registration. Balance is due by September 8, 2022.
Includes: 2 nights in a private bedroom/bathroom suite, access to RWC common areas, gardens, and hiking trails, 5 meals with wine at dinner, 4 workshops, community with other writers.

First Time Applicants:

We accept applications year-round and only through Submittable. A non-refundable $30.00 application fee applies to all first-time applicants who are applying for a residency. We highly suggest you take the time to familiarize yourself with the purpose of RWC by reading our website, especially "What is a Writers' Colony" https://rockvalewriterscolony.org/about/what-is-a-writers-colony/

Rockvale Writers' Colony does not offer scholarships at this time; however, our weekly rates are highly subsidized. Food and travel are the responsibility of the writer. The following fees apply to all accepted applicants:

• Weekly Residency Fee - $425 for Farmhouse Rooms and Cabin, $475.00 for Granary.
• Cleaning Fee - $30
• Sales Tax of 9.75% and Occupancy Tax of 4%

PLEASE NOTE: Filling out the application completely and in detail is extremely important. Make sure you read the notes beside each question as these can guide you in providing answers. Do not rush through the application. Acceptance as a writer-in-residence at RWC is not guaranteed. Applications that contain insufficient answers or lack care and attention to detail will be declined. 

Also Note: Farmhouse rooms are assigned by the director the week before residency begins. Most of our writers will stay in the Farmhouse and we do not accept room requests for this building. Writers may request to stay in the Cabin and Granary (additional fees apply for Granary) and when possible, we'll do our best to fulfill these requests. 

If you've already applied and been accepted, this form is for you! Do not use this form if this is your first time applying to Rockvale Writers' Colony. 

In order to simplify the residency date request process, we're asking returning writers to communicate with us through Submittable. There is no fee to request a new residency for returning or previously accepted writers. 

2023 residency fees are:

$425 for Farmhouse Rooms and Cabin - plus fees and taxes

$475 for Granary and Carriage House Rooms- plus fees and taxes

We look forward to welcoming you back to the colony!