Rockvale Writers’ Colony: Retreats
Rockvale Writers' Colony, a not-for-profit organization, exists to support, promote, and educate writers of all backgrounds who write in any genre. We provide a safe, comfortable, and inspiring environment where resident writers can work on a writing project. Learn more about our affordable retreats in College Grove, Tennessee:
Art Journaling is a creative combination of art and writing. Both creative genres call upon the heart and soul to invest in expressing emotion and revealing personal truths. In this retreat, we will start by making our own journals. The rest of the retreat will be spent filling that journal with everything that feels true to our hearts. We will offer many art journaling examples and give you new techniques to try. We will experiment with color, texture, shape, image, and infuse that with language. We will have art-specific studio sessions and writing-specific journaling sessions. If you are a writer new to art, this retreat is for you. If you are an artist new to writing, this retreat is for you. If you are an artist and writer both, this retreat is for you. If you have no experience (yet!) with art and writing, this retreat is definitely for you. All experience levels are welcome. Learn more about the Art Journaling retreat.
"A poem is never finished, only abandoned" is W.H. Auden's well-known paraphrase of Paul Valéry's comment that "[a] poem is never finished; it's always an accident that puts a stop to it—i.e. gives it to the public." A poem is always in motion, ever evolving: from its inception to its rough draft, through its many revisions to its "finished" form.
Poetry allows us to express ourselves through a carefully chosen engagement of language and soundscape that creates powerful emotions, ones that can intoxicate readers and invite them to accompany the poet through a poem.
Retreat facilitator, KB Ballentine, will guide workshop participants from creating new poems to working on the craft of poetry to revising poems to their (publishable) best. Participants have the option of having a 10-15 minute one-on-one conversation with KB to ask questions. Also, every retreater is invited to send one finished poem for (gentle) critique, as long as the poem is received by the deadline. Learn more about the Poems in Motion retreat.
Drawing upon the principles of Shinrin-yoku, a Japanese wellness practice that can be translated as "taking in the forest atmosphere", forest bathing involves connecting with nature using all five senses. Through the relational and ecological practices of forest bathing, we come into deeper contact with ourselves and the more-than-human world that we inhabit.
During this weekend retreat, we will meander, sit, breathe, move, play, and rest in the beautiful forest surrounding Rockvale. In addition to several forest bathing sessions, there will also be integrative conversations in which we will consider various ways in which a forest bathing practice can impact the embodied processes involved in writing. Unstructured time for wandering alone in the woods and writing freely will also be included in the schedule for the weekend. Learn more about the Forest Bathing retreat.
This retreat is for writers, readers, dreamers (hey! that's you!) who seek a weekend of stillness, solitude, and reflection. This is not a retreat of "doing". It's a retreat of "being". There are no workshops, no readings, no schedules (other than for meals). There are no expectations for participation in anything other than your own renewal. Retreaters may choose to write, journal, draw, color, read, knit, meditate, nap, think, or pray. The key is to bask in stillness, to let the quiet soak into your skin and into your heart.
Participants will stay in private bedroom/bathroom suites and will have access to common spaces such as the library, reading room, and writing porch. If they wish, participants can hike within the 65 acres of colony property and explore the winter gardens. All meals are provided. Learn more about the Peace Retreat.
