Share your words with a supportive community of writers.
We’ll meet on Wednesday, March 15, at 6:30 pm at Kenosha Creative Space, 624 57th St. (NE corner of 7th & 57th, downtown Kenosha.)
Feel free to share a short piece (no more than 4 double-spaced pages) with the group, listen to and comment on the work of others, or just come hang out with us. If possible, bring 6-8 copies so that others may see as well as hear your work. Observers are always welcome!
NEWS RELEASE
ATTENTION KWG Members: Discounted group prices are available if 3+ KWG members sign up for either the June or August Workshops.
N-I-P Bookcamp & Writing Retreat, Inc.
Contact: Dave Rank, director@novelbookcamp
262-717-5154
Racine New Home for Novel Bookcamp Weeks
RACINE, WIS. (February 5, 2023) – Celebrating its 10th anniversary providing quality, instructional programs for long-form writers, the not-for-profit Novel-In-Progress Bookcamp & Writing Retreat is moving its two, week-long residential workshops to Racine this summer.
The Siena Retreat Center in Racine will host the 2023 All-Genre and Speculative Fiction Novel Bookcamps in June and August, respectively.
The move was made because the Siena Retreat Center offers larger facilities with an increase in overnight accommodations for the Novel Bookcamp’s growing roster of writers, Founder and Director Dave Rank explained.
Novel Bookcamp programs offer instruction and individual guidance for writers with book-length fiction and creative nonfiction works-in-progress. The week-long residential programs were held at Cedar Valley UCCI, a 100-acre rural retreat center northwest of Milwaukee.
“We’re thrilled that the Novel-In-Progress organization chose the Siena Retreat Center for its new home,” Siena’s Arrangements Coordinator Nikki Madisen said. “We look forward to working with the writers. Siena’s website is https://www.sienaretreatcenter.org.
“While we remain in Southeast Wisconsin, our new location in Racine County centers our programs between the Novel Bookcamp’s primary markets, the metro areas of Milwaukee and Chicago,” Rank said. “It’s also closer to both the Milwaukee and Chicago international airports, which are linked to Racine County by Amtrak’s Hiawatha commuter train line. This makes our Bookcamp Weeks even more convenient for writers to join us. While a majority of our registrants come from Wisconsin and Illinois, we do have writers coming from across the country and even Canada.”
The All-Genre Bookcamp Week will be held June 18-24 while the Speculative Fiction Bookcamp is scheduled for August 13-19. Both weeks offer three programs tracks to choose.
Bookcamp Workshops are limited to 15 writers and require an application process. The Workshop offers classes, a Working Writer Clinic, one-on one consultations with each of three instructors, presentations, and pitch sessions.
The Writing Retreats provide a week of personal writing time with a Retreat Mentor to consult and brainstorm with if desired. The Retreats are open to any writer working in any genre, regardless of genre or format.
“New this year is our Book Coach program,” Rank said. “Imagine getting an in-depth, written analysis of your manuscript, then spend a week working one-on-one with a professional Book Coach, experienced in writing, teaching, and publishing, with access to group presentations and pitch sessions. That’s what this new program offers.”
The Book Coach program is limited to 4 writers per week, Rank said.
“Cedar Valley served us well for the past nine years,” Rank said. “But our enrollment is growing as our reputation spreads. Siena is large enough to accommodate that growth.”
Siena Retreat Center offers private bedrooms with private bath facilities on its two upper floors with elevator access, Madisen explained.
“A large meeting space on the first floor will house most of our educational activities with direct access to a full kitchen for those registrants who may need to prepare their own meals,” Rank said.
Catered continental breakfasts, lunches, and dinners will be provided all week. One fee includes programming, room, and board, Rank said.
Free use of a washing machine and dryer, and Creativity Room with art supplies are available. A screened porch and large, outdoor patio can be used by guests. Siena’s landscaped grounds invite long walks with access to the Lake Michigan shore, prairie, and woods.
“Our Bookcamp instructors are all experienced, published novelists, publishers, or agents with backgrounds in writing instruction. Each week, we also bring in literary agents and acquisition editors to add to our core instruction in novel writing and discussions on the publishing business. Guest agents and editors listen to book pitches, join panel discussions, and lead presentations,” Rank said.
Registration is open soon for both Bookcamps, although space is limited for the All-Genre Writing Retreat. For more information, contact Director Dave Rank, director@novelbookcamp.org.
The website, www.novelbookcamp.org.
The Novel-In-Progress Bookcamp & Writing Retreat, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational corporation assisted by Supportive Friends the Chicago Writers Association; Off Campus Writers Workshop, Winnetka, Ill.; Wisconsin Writers Association, HerStry Writing Community, Milwaukee, Wis., and The Howl Society, Denver, Colo. Members of those organizations can enroll in Bookcamp programs at a reduced rate.
for our February 8 Prose In-Depth Critique.
Submit up to 5000 words by midnight of Wednesday, Feb. 1.
Please see the Guidelines page on our website for submission details and critique format. (https://kenoshawritersguild.com/in-depth-critique/)
Nothing to submit? You can participate as a reader. Let Jim Payne (mylespayne@comcast.net) know by the deadline and he’ll email you all the submissions to read and critique.
The Prose IDC will be held Wednesday, February 8 at 6:30 pm at Kenosha Creative Space, 624 57th Ave., corner of 7th & 57th downtown Kenosha.
Join us Wednesday, January 18, 6:30 pm at Kenosha Creative Space, 624 57th St. (NE corner of 7th & 57th, downtown Kenosha.)
Share your words with a supportive community of writers.
Feel free to share a short piece (no more than 4 double-spaced pages) with the group, listen to and comment on the work of others, or just come hang out with us. If possible, bring 6-8 copies so that others may see as well as hear your work. Observers are always welcome!
Share your words with a supportive community of writers.
We’ll meet at 6:30 pm on Wednesday, December 21, at Kenosha Creative Space, 624 57th St. (NE corner of 7th & 57th, downtown Kenosha.)
Feel free to share a short piece (no more than 4 double-spaced pages) with the group, listen to and comment on the work of others, or just come hang out with us. If possible, bring 6-8 copies so that others may see as well as hear your work. Observers are always welcome!
for our monthly open meeting at Kenosha Creative Space, 624 57th St., corner of 7th and 57th, downtown Kenosha.
Share your words with a supportive community of writers.
Feel free to share a short piece (no more than 4 double-spaced pages) with the group, listen to and comment on the work of others, or just come hang out with us. If possible, bring 6-8 copies so that others may see as well as hear your work. Observers are always welcome!
Submit a maximum of 5000 words for our November 9th in-depth critique. Please see our Guidelines page for submission criteria and critique format.
Submit by midnight of Wednesday, November 2 to: mylespayne@comcast.net
Nothing to submit? You can participate as a reader. Let Jim Payne (mylespayne@comcast.net) know by the deadline and he’ll email you all the submissions to read and critique.
The Prose IDC will be held Wednesday, November 9 at 6:30 pm at Kenosha Creative Space, 624 57th Ave., corner of 7th & 57th downtown Kenosha.
Come share your words with a congenial community of writers. Bring a short piece–no more than 4 double-spaced pages–to read and have the group critique. Please bring 6-8 paper copies if possible, so that we may see as well as hear your piece.
Observers are always welcome! Our group is free and open to all writers, aspiring writers, and lovers of the written word.
We meet at Kenosha Creative Space at 6:30 pm. We’re not sure if we’ll be meeting upstairs or downstairs; please check for notes on the door.
for our poetry in-depth critique. Submit up to 5 poems (total word limit 5000) in one document to: mylespayne@comcast.net by midnight of Wednesday, October 5.
The critique will take place at Kenosha Creative Space on Wednesday, October 12 at 6:30 pm. Please see our page, Guidlines – Critique Meetings before submitting.
Share your words with a supportive community of writers. Our next open meeting is Wednesday, September 21 at 6:30 pm. We’ll meet at Kenosha Creative Space, 624 57th St. (NE corner of 7th & 57th, downtown Kenosha.)
Feel free to share a short piece (no more than 4 double-spaced pages) with the group, listen to and comment on the work of others, or just come hang out with us. If possible, bring 6-8 copies so that others may see as well as hear your work. Observers are always welcome!
Kenosha Writers' Guild 