Fall Break: A Dream Retreat At A Dream Of A Price

By Antonia Crane

Here is what I love about writing retreats and why Writing Pad's Fall Break Writing Retreat on Nov. 2-4 is above and beyond all of them:

1. Stars, Baby
When I part with my cold hard cash for a writing retreat, I want to study with successful writers whose writing I admire. At Writing Pad's Fall Break, you get access to so many literary rock stars. In the Screenwriting track, you can study with Robbie Fox ("So I Married An Axe Murderer", "Playing For Keeps") who has sold 60 projects and Chris Hauty ("Never Back Down", "Homeward Bound II") who has had 12 films produced. In the Memoir/Fiction track, you can learn from bestselling memoirist Monica Holloway and award-winning writer Ron Koertge who has published 19 novels and 12 books of poetry. In the Personal Essay track,  you'll get down to business with successful journalist Taffy-Brodesser-Akner (NY Times, Self, Salon) These are critically acclaimed superstars who will give you feedback on your work and shepherd you to literary greatness.

Screenwriter Robbie Fox with Jessica Biel and Gerard Butler On Set of "Playing For Keeps" (To be released Dec.!)

2. Time
Having hours away from work, pets, spouses, dirty dishes and Facebook to concentrate on writing and learning writing craft is essential for finishing a project.  In Writing Pad's Fall Break, if you take the Personal Essay track with Taffy Brodesser-Akner, you will complete an essay and send it out for publication or die. If you sign up for the Screenwriting track or Memoir/Fiction track, you will have a weekend to finish that screenplay or book you've been dreaming about. It's that simple.


3. Writing Family

Writing retreats are an opportunity to meet with other writers, share work and get support. At the retreats that I've attended, I've met writers who champion my every success and become life long friends.

4. Money and Bang For Your Buck
Many writing retreats are expensive and have crappy food and stuffy dorm-style rooms. This one is local and reasonably priced. After a scrumptious gourmet breakfast, lunch, and dinner catered by a professional chef, dessert and dancing in a gorgeous loft space with an incredible view of DTLA, you go home to your comfy bed. No extravagant plane flight tickets or hotel bill necessary! It all takes place over the course of one weekend so you don't even need to take time off.

Remember: Fall Break is fast and furious, affordable, local, and you will study with uber instructors!

This is how it works: Choose your track. Here are your options:

1. Screen Writing Track with Robbie Fox, Chris Hauty and Lamar Damon
Whip that pilot or film into shape with the heavy hitters of Hollywood: Robbie Fox ("So I Married An Axe Murderer", "Playing For Keeps") and Chris Hauty ("Never Back Down", "Homeward Bound II"). Get feedback on your screenplay ideas, find out how to get an agent and how to come up with commercial ideas and get to work! Costs: $245 for Weekend Pass (includes 3 classes, meals, wine tasting, activities and art supplies),  $75 for one-class pass (add lunch for $16, wine tasting for $16, Art Games class for $16, Writing Pad Hoedown for $16 or dinner for $21).

2. Fiction/Memoir Track with Ron Koertge and Monica Holloway 
Learn how to structure your book with pizazz and get feedback from the best in the biz. This weekend intensive includes courses with Writing Pad Founder Marilyn Friedman, bestselling memoirist Monica Holloway (Driving with Dead People, Cowboy and Wills) and with prolific, award-winning novelist and poet, Ron Koertge (Lies, Knives and Girls in Red Dresses, Stoner & Spaz). Costs: $245 for Weekend Pass (includes 3 classes, meals, wine tasting, activities and art supplies), $75 for one-class pass (add lunch for $16, wine tasting for $16, Art Games class for $16, Writing Pad Hoedown for $16 or dinner for $21).

3. Personal Essay Track with Taffy Brodesser-Akner

By the end of Taffy's Personal Essay Bootcamp, you'll have an essay ready for publication (like the 21 other writers she's helped get published!). Taffy will dig out your naughty truth, figure out your essay's beating heart, and give you the structure you need to complete that essay that's been percolating in your gut for years. Taffy's essays have been published in The New York Times, The LA Times, Self, Salon and lots of other places. If you sign up for this track, you will be with her all weekend long. You must commit. I double dog dare you. Cost: $400 Weekend Pass (includes classes, meals, wine tasting, activities and art supplies.)

I'll see you at Writing Pad's incredible Fall Break the weekend of Nov. 2-4! My recommendation to you: sign up before it is sold out.