Open Beach House at Island Time
A free WriteSPACE Special Event for anyone who has ever fantasized about attending a writing retreat on a South Pacific island!
Dear fellow writer,
There’s something magical about a writing retreat.
You go away to an unfamiliar place, and while you’re there, you work harder than you would ever have believed possible: writing and thinking and talking about your projects at mealtimes and on long walks and everywhere in between. And yet, when you return home, you feel as though you’ve been on the most wonderfully refreshing and replenishing holiday! I call this the “Retreat’s Return”: a withdrawal that rewards you, a pulling back that propels you forward.
Over the past few years, I’ve witnessed this paradoxical phenomenon many times over at Island Time and Mountain Rise, the writing retreats that I facilitate every January and July in Aotearoa New Zealand and Switzerland, respectively. Participants arrive exhausted, excited, flustered, uncertain; they leave a week later refreshed, replenished, and excited to be carrying their words back into the world.
Would you like to experience some of this transformational magic for yourself? Don’t miss my upcoming WriteSPACE Special Event on January 28 and 29, Open Beach House at Island Time. I’ll take you on a quick tour of our retreat venue at Waiheke Island’s iconic Palm Beach, followed by a 30-minute workshop designed to help you shift your own writing practice into the productive, pleasurable space of “retreat mode” — not just during high summer on a South Pacific island, but anywhere, any time.
I’m offering this FREE one-hour event twice in one week to accommodate participants anywhere in the world:
Session 1: 8-9 am GMT on Tuesday January 28 (London time)
Session 2: 3-4 pm EST on Wednesday January 29 (New York time)
To find the best time in your own time zone, check out our guest calendar or use this handy time zone converter.
Register below to receive the Zoom link a few hours before the first session. Can't attend live? All registered participants will be sent a link to the video recording after the event.
I'd love to see you there!
More ways to retreat
Pleasure Catalyst 2025 (Feb 1-Mar 13) — Do you dream of transforming your writing from a painful chore to an enjoyable challenge? Join me for six weeks of playful-but-serious “pleasure prompts” exploring the core components of joyful writing: patterns, tools, processes, identity, challenge, and balance. Zoom into our weekly Live Writing Studio sessions or learn quietly at your own pace, with lifetime access to the course materials. Learn more and enroll here.
Mountain Rise 2025 (July 20-26) — Ready to retreat with me for real? Ascend by cogwheel train to the car-free Swiss Alpine village of Wengen for 7 glorious days of writing, workshops, and conversations about writing. This intimate retreat offers a perfect blend of focused wordcraft and creative renewal to refresh your spirit and restore your joy in writing. Submit your expression of interest here. Hurry, just two spaces left!
If you appreciate hearing about resources and events like these — or just want to make my day — please take a moment to drop me a heart, leave a comment, and/or click Restack at the bottom of this message. Your enthusiasm and support mean so much to me.🩷
Kia pai tō koutou rā (have a great day) – and keep on writing!
Helen
Write more, right now! For exclusive access to live workshops, craft-focused coaching, and premium writing and editing tools, join me and writers from 30+ countries in the WriteSPACE, a vibrant international writing community and resource treasury. To try free for 30 days, click below and enter the discount code SNEAKPEEK at checkout.
Books by WriteSPACE founder Helen Sword
