Retreat to the beach with us for a weekend of reading, writing, and relaxing!

Vicki Mayk, author of Growing up on the Gridiron, Football, Friendship, and the Tragic Life of Owen Thomas will lead the nonfiction sessions.

Dawn Leas, author of two chapbooks (I Know When to Keep Quiet and A Person Worth Knowing), and two full-length collections (Take Something When You Go and The Sin of Being Okay, forthcoming November 1, 2025) will lead the poetry sessions.

The retreat offers:

• Welcome reception on Friday evening
• Lunch on Saturday and Sunday
• Free time to read/write/relax on the beach and explore Ocean Grove and nearby Asbury Park, NJ
• The opportunity to receive one-on-one feedback on a piece of your writing with either Vicki or Dawn for an additional fee. You’ll submit your work in advance and sit down with one of us during the retreat. (This is an add-on option.)
  

  Retreat Pricing:

  Super Early Bird
  Register by April 30, 2026: $375

  Early Bird
  Register by July 1, 2026: $395

  After July 1, 2026: $450

Lodging Information

Once you register for the retreat, please be sure to reserve a room. This year, there are two options: The Laingdon Hotel and Selah, which are next door to one another.

The Laingdon Hotel
This hotel is an historic bed and breakfast that was built before 1875 and restored in 2004. It has the charm of its age, but that also comes with no elevator and no first-floor guest rooms. A limited continental breakfast (fruit, yogurt, cereal, tea, coffee) and coffee/tea available all day is included.

Laingdon Hotel amenities include individually controlled a/c and heat, cable television, free WIFI, a hospitality room with an ice machine and microwave, and two common porches with unobstructed oceanfront views. All rooms have private baths and refrigerators.

To learn more, visit: Laingdon Hotel. To book a room, please call the Laingdon and ask for Angie. Be sure to let her know you’ll be a Words in the Sand participant. You will book and pay for your rooms directly with the Laingdon Hotel.

Selah
Selah is a modern and new with it’s own kind of charm, opened in 2021 and has six guest rooms. Amenities include a continental breakfast, central air, and WIFI as well as private baths, mini fridges, and televisions in each room, a front porch, lawn seating, common sitting area and dining room on first floor.

To learn more, visit: Selah Ocean Grove. To book a room, please call Selah and ask for Gina. Be sure to let her know you’ll be a Words in the Sand participant. You will book and pay for your rooms directly with Selah.

Consider asking a friend to join you at the retreat and then room together to share lodging costs!

Room Cancellation Policy

Book your room directly with the Laingdon Hotel. Room cancellations subject to the Laingdon’s cancellation policy, which can be reviewed here: Laingdon Hotel.

Book your room directly with Selah. Review their cancellation policy here: Selah Ocean Grove.

Retreat Fee Cancellation Policy

If you cancel before October 6, 2026, you’ll lose $100 of the retreat fee. 

If you cancel October 6, 2026 or after, you’ll lose 50% of the retreat fee. 

Exceptions to this policy will be considered for major documented illness (Covid) or life event, such as a death in the family.

Retreat Schedule

Friday, October 9, 2026

2:00-3:00 p.m. Check-in

Laingdon’s official check-in time is 2-7 p.m. Selah’s check-in is 3 p.m.

If your room is not ready, you’ll be able to park (street parking, there is no lot), and enjoy the Hotel’s parlor or porch, head to the beach, or explore Ocean Grove.

3:00-5:00 p.m. Writing and or exploring time

Dinner on your own.

7:30 p.m. Opening reception (2nd floor porch, Laingdon Hotel)

8:30 p.m. Optional group walk on the boardwalk

Saturday, October 10, 2026

8:00 a.m. Breakfast

Complimentary continental breakfast is available at Laingdon and Selah. Please check their websites for more details.

10:00-11:45 a.m. Word Invention (Selah)

Have you ever invented a word? One that wasn’t yet in the English dictionary? If not, you will today! You’ll get to decide whether it’s a noun, verb, adjective or adverb. You’ll get to play with sound, rhythm and spelling. You’ll write its definition, and then either write a definition poem or a short prose piece about or including your new word. 

12:30 p.m. Lunch <span style=”font-weight: 400;”>(Selah dining area)

1:30 – 3:30 p.m. Workshops: Participants will choose either prose (Vicki) or poetry (Dawn). 

Writing through the Side Door – Vicki
(Laingdon Front Porch, weather permitting)

Sometimes we avoid writing about something or we resist it because the subject matter is “too:” too sad, too painful, too scary, too filled with anger etc. This session is about using a technique that the writer Abigail Thomas calls “writing through the side door.” We’ll choose something – a detail, an event, a moment – as the entry point allowing us to write about what eludes us. 

Let’s Get Moody – Dawn
(Beach, weather permitting)Sometimes it’s more fun to imagine what could be instead of what actually is. We’ll suspend reality in this workshop and explore the ifs, woulds, clouds, shoulds of the conditional mood and write in metaphors to poem our way in space and places we wish existed.

3:30 – 5:30 p.m. Free time for individual writing, heading to the beach, or exploring Ocean Grove

During this free time, Jess Morgan will also be offering 15-minute chair massages for $20. If interested, see Jess to reserve a spot and pay her directly (cash only).

6:00 p.m. Group dinner at Selah or on your own. We will be walking to Day’s for ice cream after dinner.

8:30 p.m.  Participants can spend the evening writing on their own, or socializing or an informal reading on the Laingdon front porch. 

Sunday, October 11, 2026*

7:00 a.m. Yoga with Jess
    (Beach, weather permitting)

8:00 a.m. Breakfast

Complimentary continental breakfast is available at Laingdon and Selah. Please check their websites for more details.

9:00 – 11:00 a.m.  Bags of Creativity  (Laingdon Front Porch, weather permitting)

How do we pack up the creative energy we generate at a writing retreat and take it home with us? In this session, you’re going to make bags of creativity that you’ll be able to keep and use over and over again to create your own prompts to generate new work – or just enjoy some word play.

11:30 a.m. Lunch + Group Photo (Laingdon Front Porch, weather permitting)

12:15 p.m. Workshops: Participants will choose either prose (Vicki) or poetry (Dawn). 

A How-To Guide for Living – Vicki
(Laingdon Front Porch, weather permitting. Alternate location: Odyssey Coffee)

Did you ever wish there was a how-to manual for navigating life experiences?  Maybe a list of directions to get you through a tough job interview. Or a how-to book for becoming a parent. Or the steps you could have followed for the first date with your crush. In this session, we’ll borrow the form of a how-to guide or a set of directions to write hermit crab essays capturing what we have learned about navigating our lives.

Island of Creativity- Dawn 

(Selah dining area)

From good writing days when the inlet of imagination is packed with idea boats to days when the stream of self-doubt is overflowing its banks, we’ll map our individual islands of creativity in a drawing exercise and then use our maps as inspiration for writing a poem or two.

2:15 p.m. Closing and departure whenever you are ready.

*Room check-out is promptly at 11:00 a.m. at Laingdon and at Selah.
Our group has access to the common areas at both through 3 p.m.

 Schedule subject to change. A final schedule will be provided in your retreat folder.