Last week was my birthday and as a gift to me: I lazed around for two whole days and wrote whatever I wanted to.  I didn’t check email or even get on my phone much, I just let myself go wild on the page. It was unbelievably luxurious and actually things happened in my writing that I didn't expect and that sort of blew me away creatively.  The only thing that would have been better? If I had done it on the beach.

Our Retreat House on Cinnamon Beach!

Luckily in six weeks literary agent Dede Cummings and I are doing just that.  April 24th-April 27 we’ll be in St. Augustine Florida, that hot little heavenly arts town everyone is talking about, and we want you to come with us!!  St. Augie has some of the finest creative mojo in the country.  National Geo just named it one of the 20 best places in the world to vacation. With 40 miles of unspoiled beaches, a fountain of youth and Spanish colonial architecture, it’s easy to see why. 

At retreat, we’ll be writing in the Gateless Gate method which will blow your socks off (so you can walk barefoot on the beach!). The Gateless method is based on years of creative brain science from pioneering researchers at places like Penn, Harvard, and the National Institute of Health. The method works because it ceases activity in your critical mind, teaches you where the strength of your writing is, and shows you how to draw from your innate power so you can create incredible work. Retreats edify your writing, so your natural genius drives the work.  We also pass you the tools you need for revision, publication and a surefire way to finish a writing project and reach bestseller status. Some of our retreat participants have gone on to publish books but absolutely anyone is drawn to retreat, whether a book is in your future or you just feel healed and alive when you put words to the page.

 
Lit agent and publishing expert, Dede Cummings, lounging around at retreat

New previously, unpublished writers who weren't even sure w they had a book in them, have worked with us in the Gateless Gate method and gotten top agents, watched their books fought over by major publishing houses, garnered six figure publishing contracts, and found themselves in the major media spotlight. But that's just a happy byproduct of working in this method.  It's really about connecting with yourself, your writing, and the true greatness you have within.

But most of all? These four days are a blast. They are a respite from everything trying to pull you in the opposite direction. We make sure our writers are fed delicious snacks and meals (including some outings to the heavenly eateries around St. George Street), thoroughly massaged (we believe the muse needs tons of pampering) and soaked in the warm sun with sand between their toes.  The retreat house is right on the ocean with a pool,  light filled rooms, and lots of comfy spots to plop down and start writing whenever the muse hits. And the muse tends to hit often on retreat.

our pool in the breezy Spanish city of St. Augie.

You’ll leave buoyed and supported by a kick-ass posse of talented writers who can support you on your path. Maybe the best thing about this St. Augustine retreat?  It’s a debut spot for us, and whenever we retreat at a new place, we offer a little gift to the writers who come with us. A discount on our regular fee. This retreat is $1250 for everything. If you are a salonista, repeat retreat participant or a one-on-one writer of mine or Dede's, you get 10% off.  Couples who come together get $500 off their combined price. Word has slipped out, so we can now only accept two more writers.  Off-site participants who live in St. Augustine should write to me for details. If that small voice inside you is whispering yes then you know you’re the one, and this is right. Drop everything and email me as soon as possible suzannekingsbury@yahoo.com.  Remember, that little yes always means something big. Let yourself believe in your writing. It’s time…  Come join us for a life-changing four days! Visit me here, for more raves from writers.  Or visit our retreat page to find out how these retreats began and why they are so special.  Can't wait to write on the beach with you!

'The Best Writing Retreat I’ve ever been to… Suzanne helped me build my platform and my proposal, Dede immediately got me in front of the top publishing houses in NY. Within 48 hours I had my first offer--Katina Makris, author of Out of the Woods, a repeat at the salon-style retreats.

"Suzanne has been my guiding light and inspiration. Dede is positive, and keeps me energized. Since working with them, my story has been highly praised by best editors at major media outlets and now some of the top publishing houses in NY are considering my memoir for publication." --Kathleen Murray, author of the Widow and the Hijacker and retreat participant.

"The best money I ever spent."--Laura Rothschild, debut novelist, after her first retreat.

Retreat was an unexpected journey to give myself permission to take stock of my life-earned wisdom and sing of the treasures in my heart.  I felt myself bursting through emotional blocks. I am so moved by the experience.  Suzanne makes sure our bodies are warm, our bellies full of hearty soup, she leaves trails of treats around the room in case we are so stuck that the only recourse is to coax out our spirits with chocolate.  The brilliance of Suzanne’s methodology is the barring of the critical voice, she perceives the beauty and vulnerability in all her students, who continue to grow and develop their own signature voices.Margie Pivar, author of The Fourth Uncle in the Mountain, retreat participant and our (magical) resident shiatsu therapist

"Now, I can quit my day job..." Dulcie Witman, fiction and non-fiction writer, retreat participant.

“When I met Suzanne, I was a reluctant former poet jaded by years of criticism in creative writing academia. Suzanne has helped me rediscover the writer I was as a child, a little girl in love with words and the act of putting pen to paper.” ~Diana Whitney, author of Wanting It, our resident yogi, and retreat participant.