Wilderness Writing Retreat

Looking for an opportunity to spend four full stress-free days working on your unfinished novel, or the collection of short stories you have shelved for a rainy day? Book now to indulge yourself with resident-writer Susan Musgrave, author of over twenty-five books, who brings to the experience more than thirty-five years of teaching creative writing workshops in every genre.

Think of the stories you love: what draws you to them? What made you laugh, or shed a tear? Whether you write fiction, poetry, children's stories, or non-fiction, the discussions and writing exercises we do in this wilderness writing retreat will make you a stronger, more confident writer and reader by the end of the week.

The setting for this retreat is Moresby Explorers' floating lodge situated on the northern boundry of Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site. The lodge is rustic but comfortable with hot and cold running water, enough electricity for lights and camera charging, flush toilet, everything but a shower - but don't worry, we will be visiting Hotsprings Island in the middle of the trip where we can have a shower and soak in the natural pools!

Susan Musgrave has been nominated and received awards in five different genres: poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, children's writing and for her work as an editor. She teaches in UBC's Optional Residency Creative Writing MFA Programme. Her latest book of personal essays is, "YOU'RE IN CANADA NOW...A Memoir of Sorts." A new collection of poetry, Origami Dove, will be published in March 2011

Itinerary
Day 1: We pick you up at the Sandspit Airport at 15:00, when the Air Canada flight comes in from Vancouver. We drive to Moresby Camp, a little more than an hour down the logging roads, where we keep our boats. Here we load all our gear into one of our Hurricane Zodiac Rigid Hull Inflatables and boat for about one and a half hours to Crescent Inlet, arriving at the lodge at dinner time.

Day 2 and 3: In the morning, Susan will give a 3 hour workshop. In the afternoon, Susan will meet with participants to critique their work. There are kayaks available for people to use either on their own or with the guide.

Day 4: After a hearty breakfast we will dress warmly, grab our bathing suits, and head to the Hotsprings! We will have time to explore along the way and may visit some old growth forests, intertidal areas, secluded inlets, view wildlife, and visit the long abandond Haida village site of Tanu.

Day 5 and 6: Same as days 2 and 3.

Day 7: After breakfast we will pack all our gear, load the boat and head back. We will arrive in Sandspit in time for the Air Canada flight back to Vancouver.

How you should dress:
Because we use open boats it can be very cold and sometimes wet. You should wear warm, layered clothing, preferably synthetic (like fleece) or wool, and if possible avoid cotton as it is very cold when wet. We suggest you bring all the warm clothing you have as you can always leave some in the van if your guide thinks you have to much. You should also bring a warm hat, sunglasses and gloves.

You may bring your own raingear, but we also provide heavy raingear and gumboots for everyone.

Although we do have some covered storage on the boat, your writing gear should be in waterproof cases or bags and you are fully responsible for keeping it dry.

Gear List:
We have very limited space on the boat, so all your non-writing gear should fit in a daypack.
-Warm clothing
-Warm hat
-Sunglasses
-Gloves
-Bathing suit, Towel, Sandals (for the hotsprings)
-Water bottle
-Change of clothes
-Personal effects
-Writing Gear
-Binoculars (optional)
-Alcoholic beverage (to have with dinner, optional)
-Gratuities (If our staff exceeds your expectations, optional)

Schedule 2012