New Retreats + Your Summer Reading List
AKA Wordsmith Alumni are so awesome you should just read everything by us
This newsletter is jam-packed with a lot of information and opportunities, so be sure to stick with us to the end. We’re telling you about new retreats, new workshops, and new books by our alumni.
First and foremost: We have one slot available for our upcoming retreat to Asheville, NC, and we’re announcing a brand new retreat in Texas for this November, focused on revising your manuscript!
Asheville, NC Retreat: Discover Worldbuilding tips in America’s Grandest Palace
Join us for a five-day retreat where you’ll get lessons, one-on-one critiques from both Beth and Cristin, and visit the Biltmore House in an included field trip that comes with high tea and a house tour!
For all our retreats, we offer past attendees first dibs. Our alumni nearly sold out this retreat, and, as a result, we have one slot left in this retreat.
Revise & Refine Your Manuscript in Texas
Have a manuscript done that you want to make sure is ready to submit to agents? Have one started that you’re not sure how to finish? Have you been querying, and don’t know why it’s not snagging an agent? Do you have an agent, but your book needs work before going to an editor? These are exactly the scenarios we’ve developed the Revise & Refine workshop for!
This retreat starts before you leave home. About a month prior to the workshop, join us for an exclusive online class as we discuss revision techniques, and then schedule one-on-ones with both Beth and Cristin to focus on your individual project. After that, come to our Texan base outside of Wimberly for five days of community, critiques, and workshopping your ideas.
This retreat sold out last year! Join us now, and you’ll also gain access to a private online community where we can chat and get to know one another prior to the retreat.
Online Community: Word Lab
Join us in July for a month of community writing! Like online office hours with focused guidance, Word Lab provides a timed, scheduled session on both Sundays and Wednesdays so that you can get words down on the paper. Join us for the whole month or just part—participants keep coming back for the community and the efficient method of such focused work times!
Online Workshop: The Story Triangle
This month, our online video workshop is all about the way world, character, and plot interconnect. This basic introduction to the story triangle will have you develop each aspect and analyze how to strengthen the way they work together.
You can select just this workshop on Wordsmith Workshops, or you can join Beth’s Patreon and access this and all prior workshops.
Summer Reading List—Look what our past retreat attendees have done!
We are so in awe of the people we’ve met over the past eight years of doing retreats! In that time, we’ve seen our past attendees make amazing book deals, go on national tours, hit the NY Times Bestseller list, and more! Here are some of the recent and upcoming titles that you’ve got to grab now!
Susan Crispin attended our very first retreat, and now her second romance YA is out this month! The Broken Hearts Club is a sweet romance that blends a little bit of magic in with the kissing. Find out more.
Scott Tracey is an established author with a wide array of works available. Check out his latest, Love Crafted, perfect for fans of spooky fun The Addams Family with a modern, romantic twist full of wit! Find out more.
Andria Henry’s romance Who Says You Can’t Go Home is a quick read full of heart. And if you visit her website, you may also just a sneak peek of her next rom com coming soon! Find out more.
We’ve not yet hosted author Melissa See at a retreat, but we were thrilled to have her join us for Word Labs! Her latest novel, Love Letters for Joy, just came out this month, and tackles social issues while also featuring an asexual heroine finding love for the first time. Find out more.
Two of our past alumni, Rosiee Thor and Rebecca Kim Wells, have stories in the upcoming anthology Lofty Mountains—Twelve stories of sapphic experiences in fantastical and sci fi settings. You can pre-order it by backing the Kickstarter!
And Rebecca has an upcoming story in Night of the Living Queers, which will be available in August! Find out more.
And Rosiee has another story coming out in the Being Ace anthology, available in October. Find out more.
NY Times bestseller and alum Rachel Griffin is releasing her third novel coming out this August. This romantasy is sure to sweep you off your feet! Find out more.
Ashley Schumacher recently released her second novel, The Renaissance of Gwen Hathaway, and her third book has already been announced and slated for next year! You can get a sneak peek at her website here.
Wren Martin Ruins It All is described by publisher Penguin Random House as “unforgettably quippy and endearingly chaotic” which is pretty fantastc, lol. Find out more here.
Last but not least, our own Beth Revis has a title coming out this October! Night of the Witch is a historical romance fantasy, and co-written with bestseller Sara Raasch. Find out more!
And while you’re reading all these fantastic books from Wordsmith Alums, light a candle from one of our other alums, Ranee, founder of Wicking It Up candles, who also has a brilliant line just for readers and writers! Explore her Creatives Collection here!