Why is the Writing Excuses “Out of Excuses Retreat and Workshop” now on a boat?

Well, for the first two years, we hosted it at my parents’ home in Tennessee. The location had a lot of things going for it, but we had to limit attendance to 24 people because of the size of the venue. This meant a lot of stress for people as they tried to register for those few slots. We sold out in less than three minutes last time.

So we wanted a bigger venue, but we also wanted to address the other things that keep people from being able to attend workshops. One of those is that people get limited vacation time, and taking a week off to be away from family is hard.

Being on the ship means that you can bring your family with you. We have a dedicated space for the seminars, but the rest of the ship is designed for vacations. There’s even a complimentary Adventure Ocean® Youth Program, so your kids can have adventure while you’re improving your writing. There’s a discounted rate for family members, and while all ages are welcome on the ship, we particularly want to encourage young writers. So anyone between the ages of 12-17 can attend the seminars at the family rate, instead of paying full price.

One of the things that’s hardest about being a professional writer is learning to balance family and fiction. It only makes sense for us to help that balance from the get-go.

There’s a ton of other reasons to be on the ship. Like… the Caribbean.

For those of you who haven’t cruised before, allow me to say that I poo-pooed the idea before I started going on the Steampunk Cruises. The ship we’re on is like a giant floating resort, and every day we have a different tropical destination outside our door. So we’ll have instruction, time to write, inspiration, and time to unwind.

You can read all about it at the registration page for the 2015 Out of Excuses Workshop and Retreat for, but if you have any other questions, ask away.

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13 thoughts on “Why is the Writing Excuses “Out of Excuses Retreat and Workshop” now on a boat?”

      1. You would be wrong, at least based on my experiences attending the Steampunk Cruises. There’s no internet or cell access while on the ship and there are a surprising variety of private places to go and write. Yes, it’s true that there are 3500 people aboard, but no outside demands on your time.

        1. Wow, that’s harsh . . . but, there’s always a first time for everything, so I suppose being wrong is within the realm of possibility.

          . . . however, despite our solitary nature, despite my propensity to shun social contact, having been on a cruise I feel confident in saying it did not feel as ‘retreat-like’ as when I have gone to lodges, cabins, and other more traditional venues (at least what I consider traditional venues) for retreats.

          It is true, however, that those ships are large enough to facilitate limiting social contact, so I suppose one could generate a retreat-like atmosphere, at least during the workshop hours.

          . . . still, on our cruise I saw people . . . lots of people.

  1. Do you think the workshop would be also suitable for someone who isn’t a native speaker of the English language?

    I read almost every book in English, watch movies in English and use English for my work, but I have never attempted to write more than a long letter in English.
    However, all this the reading and watching has my brain tuned to English, so some of the ideas for stories feel like they should be written in English, too.

    1. We’ve had students whose primary language isn’t English at previous retreats and it still seems to work for them. If you got a breakout spot, you’d probably opt to do a Q&A rather than a critique session, but the lectures should all be relevent.

  2. Why on a boat? I figured you were just running through all the Green Eggs and Ham options. I firmly expect to see the next one in a box and with a fox.

  3. So what is the schedule of events? I mean, are you baking in time for writers to actually take some shore excursions or are the writing events during the day?

    1. We’re going to try to make sure that there’s a good balance between classes and free time. We’re waiting to set the final schedule until we know how many students we have and what areas of focus y’all are interested in. We’re planning, currently, to have classes only while we are not in port, which means the focus will be on two at-sea days and then in the morning or evenings of the other days.

      BUT those will not be wall-to-wall, because we’ve learned that people need breaks between classes to absorb new material.

      We’re also hoping — but it depends on attendance — to offer some option shore excursions that combine tourism with writing. For instance, there’s a plantation in Jamaica built in 1757. We’re trying to make arrangements to take a group there and talk about historical fiction and colonialism while having tea in a historic setting.

      We’re still a year out from the cruise so we have plenty of time to tweak it to fit the needs of the folks attending.

  4. I think this sounds pretty fabulous! If it weren’t after the fall semester starts, my partner and I would be all over it, but we both teach college…Maybe another year.

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