Writing for Impact: From the Sentence Up. Over the course of the retreat, we will use various strategies to improve both the style and the content of whatever fiction or creative nonfiction you bring with you, whether it’s a first draft, a second draft, or something nearly there that needs one more pass. The workshop will offer techniques that clear away confusion and enable you to look at your work the way a reader would, and then make some of the hard decisions your work deserves. Bring a piece of your writing that you love, that you love to hate, or that perplexes you—we’ll tackle it together.

Steve Rinehart writes and ghostwrites for a former US President, Fortune 100 CEOs, entrepreneurs, and social activists.  He brings a background as a writer of novels, stories, and screenplays, and his awards include a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. His creative, persuasive, and nonfiction writing, both under his byline and for principals, has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, TIME, London Telegraph, GQ, Out, and many others. He has taught fiction for 25 years at New York University and elsewhere, and has contributed essays and forewords for bestselling nonfiction titles across the world. 

When Your Book-in-Progress Is in a Middle Place. A workshop for writers who’ve completed a partial first draft (fifty or more pages), a full draft, or, even, several drafts of a book-length manuscript (a novel, a memoir, a collection of essays or stories). We’ll spend workshop time considering which kinds of very specific tools of the trade (“the basics”) as well as what kinds of larger conceptual thinking (“the bold”) might benefit each book, nourishing and sustaining it to completion.  Please note: This workshop requires a submission of 15-20 pages (12 pt type, double-spaced) from your work-in-progress, along with your application to the workshop. Barbara will arrive armed with editorial approaches tailored to this particular workshop group’s needs.  

Barbara Jones was an editor for more than thirty years, first in magazines (Harper’s Magazine, Vogue, More) then in books (as editorial director at Hyperion Books and executive editor at Henry Holt). As a magazine editor, she worked with such writers as Jennifer Egan, Elizabeth Gilbert, Christopher Hitchens, Ann Hood, Jean Korelitz, Lorrie Moore, Ann Patchett, and many others. As a book editor, she edited and published numerous bestselling as well as prize-winning titles, by authors such as Paul Auster, Dan Chaon, Susan Choi, Kelly Corrigan, Lauren Groff, Janice Hadlow, Lillian Li, Julie Lythcott-Haims, and many others. She’s now a literary agent with the Stuart Krichevsky Literary Agency.

How to Ready Your Feature-Length Idea for the Screen: So…you've got an idea for a screenplay? This workshop will help you sharpen and develop that story. We’ll begin by hearing your idea, then explore how to make your main characters as compelling and dynamic as possible -- studying the structure gauntlet these characters will run, dissecting what makes a scene great, considering what dialogue can do (and what it can’t). We'll drill down on answering the key questions that will help you make your character-driven narrative as visually arresting and emotionally engaging as possible. Then, you’ll be ready to start your first draft or revise your current one into a screenplay that works.

Sydney Sidner has sold TV pilots to CBS and the CW. She’s taught screenwriting and TV writing at Columbia, NYU and Stony Brook. Along the way she has helped a lot of great writers with their scripts, including Peter Hedges and Min Jin Lee. Syd's feature screenplay MY PROBLEM WITH MARRIAGE is being produced by Maven Screen Media in 2026.