Gateless Writing Retreats
Our next Destination Writing Retreat will be in Tuscany, Italy May 10-15th, 2023, an all inclusive retreat for content generation and radical nurturing including a villa with astounding views, a private chef, heated pool, gardens to write in, daily Reiki and Thai head massage, and art + inspiration excursions to Florence, one hour away and Arezzo, within walking distance. To register, simply email Suzanne: gatelesswriting@gmail.com There are three more spaces for this retreat. Single and double occupancy available.
Our next Classic Writing Retreat will be on the Thimble Islands, CT September 19-22, 2023. An all inclusive island retreat at a renovated Victorian manse in the Stony Creek archipelago, a hidden gem just 1.5 hours from NYC. One of the prettiest coastlines in New England, Gateless rents this island for the entire four days, including a private beach, curated gardens, boat transfer, a private chef, daily Reiki and Thai head massage and 4 bliss-filled days of writing writing writing. To learn more visit us HERE. To register, simply email Suzanne: gatelesswriting@gmail.com. There are 3 more spaces for this retreat. Single and double occupancy available.
Our next Shamanic Writing Retreat will be in Santa Theresa, Costa Rica, December 3-8th, 2023. A channeled retreat for the spiritual + creative deep diver with fire ceremonies, mud baths, sound healing, yoga, surf lessons, shamanic calling in, channeled healing and, of course, Gateless Writing. This retreat focuses on the written word as medium and oracle. Based on creative brain science and the channeled scribes of ancient Mesopotamia, this six day immersive spiritual writing retreat will completely transform your life. To register or inquire, email Suzanne: gatelesswriting@gmail.com. Open for registration and filling very quickly. Single and double occupancy available.
What are Gateless Retreats? The magic of creativity meets the power of productivity in our delicious one-of-a-kind salon-style writing retreats.
Sweet support for the genius writer within: Every few months an intimate group of writers run away together to a manse by the sea, a mountain home or a retreat center where we can focus on nothing else but the muse. Gateless is about nurturing the writer. While society has previously believed that good writing is born from criticism, recent brain science has found that domain-changing creativity occurs when writers are supported and encouraged.
Retreat houses are sprawling and light filled, they hold the writer with nooks for reading, delicious home-cooked meals, a beach, and bodywork. You will be surrounded by inspirational and classic writing books, an ocean to swim in, and miles of beach for seashell-seeking walks. Most of all we write, read aloud, and connect with a dream team of writers who can help move us forward on the creative journey of a lifetime.
“Suzanne has been my guiding light and my inspiration. Since that first Gateless retreat, my story has been highly praised by the best editors at major media outlets. Some of the top publishing houses in New York considered my memoir for publication. At this last retreat, I just signed a book deal for my memoir!” ~Kathleen Murray Moran, New York, professor and author of the upcoming memoir, The Widow and the Hijacker.
The Writing Salon: The core of the Gateless experience are the salon-style writing sessions. The inspiration that leads the sessions viscerally connects you with your creative genius. From that place, we write. Whether you work on new pieces or continue with work you brought along, the power of the work you put on the page will astound you.
During feedback, we don't "fix" or deconstruct the work. Approaching work with criticism is opinion-based teaching, and this reverses activity in the part of the brain associated with imagination and creativity. At Gateless, we foster your innate talent, show you where the work has energy, where the craft is singing and where the power lives. Because we are focusing on your genius, anything not working simply falls away. You will generate more work than you ever thought possible, access inside industry expertise, and reach completely new zeniths in creative potential.
As you listen to feedback, you receive bodywork, so that you not only move through blocks on the page, but you work through blocks in the somatic. During feedback, you are passed craft tools so you have agency on the page as you move into your work. Sharing writing in this way actually shifts neurotransmitters so that you begin to associate the act of writing with bliss. This process has created incredibly potent work that has led to best-selling book deals, literary awards, and attention from some of the nation's best literary journals.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you. I will definitely be back on retreat. I learned so much, made lifetime friends, and had a blast and thanks to you I am writing like crazy! I'm in the flow, getting so much down, my mind working faster than I can type. No more blank page." ~Kim Griffin, horse-whisperer, Texas.
Who Comes to Retreat? In our daily lives we are CEO's, editors, attorneys, brand strategists, life coaches, therapists, moms, doctors, teachers, writers, artists, and much more. We long to create by the sea, network, build books and find the creative genius within. We also want to be productive and believe that our dreams of becoming shape-shifting writers can actually come true. They can.
Should You Come to Retreat? Gateless retreats attract anyone from seasoned writers on the last drafts of their upcoming books to writers who have journaled all their lives and want to explore their relationship with the written word. Writing and sharing in the Gateless method creates a common denominator and alchemizes a group to previously uncharted heights.
Wherever you are, if you are hearing the urgent call to write but have felt blocked, if you want to finish a manuscript but don't know where to begin, if you have been waiting for a portal to open so that you can finally feel at home in your own creative skin, come. Share delicious meals, get the bodywork you crave, play on the page, find your voice, hear where you are strong, find again that fantastically beautiful playmate called the muse. The retreat is probably not for you if you believe criticism is the only catalyst for great work, if you don't like to be touched, if you don't want to risk crying or laughing really hard, or if you are not at all interested in the depth and wisdom of your own intuit.
But if you are feeling a resonance, a whispered yes, that's a huge sign that you are ready for Gateless.
"I miss you guys already. I just wanted to thank you for your smile, encouragement, and the amazing experience of being in a room nestled among incredible writers and feeling safe to share without embarrassment. Thank you for making me listen to the positive things being said about my writing. My new outlook is going to be viewing through the lens of positivity, start with what is working about a piece, the relationship, the thing I am struggling with and say it out loud. THANK YOU! ~Lindsay Agne, founder of Full Circle Fertility, Massachusetts.
Craft Tools and Takeaways for Your Work: One very strong piece of the Gateless retreat is getting the skills you need to create both mastery on the page and a lifelong career in writing. Though writers of all levels and genres come to retreat, you will always be exposed to writers who are entrenched and well-networked in the industry and have the connections and skills to move you in any direction you desire with your writing.
We will pass you the tools you need to build the novel, craft the self-help, or write the story you've wanted to tell for so long. You will have access to info on queries, proposals, top media outlets, lit journals, titles, author branding, and agents. You will feel buoyed when you leave retreat, with enough skills to make your vision come alive. After retreat, you are invited to join our global online community of writers. This private network includes writers who have been published by top media outlets, shortlisted (and awarded!) prestigious literary awards, hit bestseller lists, and found their lives changing through the power of the written word.
“I signed up for retreat unsure of what I might get out of the weekend. Not only did I fall in love with my writing (and a particularly gorgeous man, no doubt a result of the Gateless method finding its way into our emails!), this experience has given me faith in my voice as a writer, respect for the ability of my words to help people, and the confidence to push my work into channels I’d never have thought to try.” ~Catie Webster, brand strategist and life coach, Montana.
Massage and Bodywork Just For You: Yes, it's true, when you sign up for a Gateless retreat, a staff massage therapist will be on hand to serve you some of the best bodywork you've ever received. We bring along bodyworkers who are known in their fields for the work they do as seasoned practitioners. They have included Margie Pivar, eminent shiatsu therapist, founder of The Shiatsu School of Vermont and author of the internationally-acclaimed Fourth Uncle in the Mountain; Karen Kenney, Thai bodyworker and trainer, founder of Quest Yoga, spiritual adviser, and host of the Karen Kenney podcast; Sarah Byrden, a certified instructor in the MogaDao tradition who teaches Archetypal Qigong, Sacred Daoist Sexuality, and 5 Element Yoga; Lara Darrow, psychotherapist and somatic movement therapist; and Colin Leech, known for her deep touch, intuitive and therapeutic work, her integrative positional release, and her reflexology. Our massage therapist is our retreat mama, on hand to nurture and hold you.
"I came into retreat feeling blocked, distant from my writing, and rudderless. The intense work and deep nourishment of retreat lifted me out of my busy life and grounded me again as a writer. Now I have a plan for my manuscript, agent interest, and a surefooted way to move forward." ~Kate Baldwin, writing teacher, editor, Massachusetts.
How Did These Retreats Begin? I was working one-on-one as a "book shaman" (my writers' name for me), helping new writers think big about their books by building their brands, writing top-selling proposals, hooking them up with agents, and cheerleading (really loud) as previously unpublished writers signed contracts, negotiated big deals, and saw their books go to auction. At the same time, I was holding weekly writing salons in my home in Vermont. At salon we ate chocolate, drank wine, lazed around on couches, wrote wrote wrote in the Gateless method, encouraged each other's genius, and leaned into our strengths.
And ... miracles happened. Lifelong friendships were formed and people fell in love again: with themselves, with each other, with their writing. We found agents and got book deals but more than that? Our lives changed. We realized that we needed days together, holed up in a beautiful house to generate our writing. And that's how these life-changing retreats began.
“I was a reluctant former poet jaded by years of criticism in creative writing academia. Gateless 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, Vermont, founder of Core Flow Yoga, and author of a new book of poetry from Harbor Mountain Press, Wanting It.
When And Where Are the Retreats? Salon-style Gateless writing retreats happen at various locations throughout the year. Pick your retreat below. If you do not see a retreat that suits, the Gateless Teacher Training Program is now training writers and coaches to lead salon-style Gateless retreats all over the world. Send us an email at gatelesswriting@gmail.com so we can find one just for you.
"This retreat was the best money I ever spent … .” ~Laura Rothschild, literary agent, California.
Upcoming Retreats:
Gateless Great Escape Writing Retreat, Italy, May 15-20 2023.
This 5-day Gateless Writing retreat was designed so you could make mad love to the muse and dive deep into the surprising wellspring of the limitless creative mind. This is a content-creation retreat in a 9-bedroom manse in the heart of Tuscany, Italy. Private chef, Gateless Writing salons to work on on-going projects, and excursions to some of the most incredible art in the world to inspire your work. This is a writing retreat haven. Expect to generate new work, discover the power and strength of what you can do on the page, and find one of the most divine creative sanctuaries away from the whirlwind of contemporary daily life. Prices range from $2100-$2500 depending on room choice. Questions or to apply: gatelesswriting@gmail.com.
Gateless Classic Writing Retreat, the Thimble Islands, September 19-22, 2023. This four-day retreat is held in a light-filled manse. For four days you will cozy up and create content with 12 writers during eight Gateless Writing salons. You will be immersed in a methodology that uses brain science and "feel-good" neurotransmitters to support the writer, moves you through blocks to your best work, and frees your creative mind. Retreat includes private chef and daily Thai head massage and Reiki, and the incredible experience of creating writing that will blow your literary mind. Prices range from $2050-$2450 depending on room choice. Questions or to apply: gatelesswriting@gmail.com.
Shamanic Gateless Writing Retreat in Costa Rica (with Suzanne and award-winning author and retreat leader, Emily Pereira). December 2-8, 2023. A Gateless Writing Retreat designed for the deep-dive writer who wants to explore the spirit of the word. This retreat includes Gateless Writing Salons, feedback that supports and buoys the writing, daily Thai head massage + Reiki, tarot and astrology readings, sound healing, yoga, mud baths, a private chef and juicing will be available. Get ready for a feeling of freedom and ecstasy you may never have experienced before. An incredible exploration into the rich narrative of your most creative self. Prices range from $2995-$3695 depending on room choice. Questions or to apply: gatelesswriting@gmail.com
If you are looking to get certified to teach Gateless Writing, our Teacher Training Retreat happens in the fall and spring of every year. Together we will find the perfect one for you: gatelesswriting@gmail.com.
“Now I can quit my day job.” ~Dulcie Whitman, psychotherapist, Maine, after her first Gateless Retreat. She is now a Gateless Certified teacher and runs fantastic writing retreats of her own.
How Do I Sign Up? Retreats fill fast, so reserve your space as soon as you can!! Prices range from $1875-2350, depending on locale, day rate and room choice. This includes everything but the vehicle to get you there. Contact me if you would like to find the perfect retreat for you: gatelesswriting@gmail.com.
Cancellation Policy
Do You Want to Become Certified as a Gateless Teacher/Coach/Facilitator? Our Gateless Teacher Training Program will certify you to teach Gateless in community classes, private workshops, and destination retreats. For details, visit us here: Gateless Teacher Training.
