Writing Classes at Wiawaka 2025
Summer Reading Retreat with Stephanie Affinito
July 18th, 2025
9:00am-7:00pm lunch break from 12-1pm and dinner from 6:00pm-7:00pm (lunch and dinner included in price)
$100 with book
$75 without book
Kick off your summer reading season with a full-day retreat full of books and reading, notebooks and writing and mindful yoga movement. Before the retreat, you’ll get personalized book recommendations and will choose a book to receive upon arrival. From there, we’ll connect together as a community and engage in mindful movement. Then, we’ll spend most of our time reading with invitations to decorate reading notebooks, engage in bookish crafts and more scattered throughout the day. We’ll share two meals together and end with celebrations from the day and ways to connect beyond the retreat. Join us!
Stephanie is a book-loving, notebook-hoarding literacy teacher educator at The University at Albany on a mission to change lives one book and one notebook at a time. She blogs about the power of leading literate lives at www.alitlife.com and podcasts weekly on books and reading, writing and notebooks and everything in between on Get Lit(erate). She also chats with a new children’s literature author every week on her KidLit Love podcast, too. You can find her online at www.alitlife.com and on most social platforms using @AffinitoLit.
Writing Workshop with Bernice Mennis
July 21st, 2025
1:00pm – 4:00 pm
$20 for the writing class
$30 for the class and day pass
The poet William Stafford said that following the threads of our own mind would lead us to the holyland. The definition of “holyland” is open and wide, deep and unknown. In this workshop we will follow our pen and heart to discover where we are led.
Bernice has lived in the Adirondack woodlands for over 42 years, the bounty and beauty of nature continually nourishing her with its bounty, diversity and beauty. Bernice Mennis taught literature and writing at Vermont’s Adult Degree Program and at Great Meadows prison. She wrote Breaking Out of Prison:a guide to consciousness,compassion and freedom, about her experience at Great Meadows and the rich writing of the men she taught, and Holding it All, a book of poetry exploring the challenge of holding what is complex and layered in our lives.
Using Your Senses to Write More Creatively
August 1st-3rd, 2025
$50 for the class for all days
Get 10% off an overnight when participating in this class
There is power in sharing our stories. They tell who we are and what life was like during our time on earth. They are a gift to the folks we love. As time goes by, our memories of people and places are coaxed out through various sensory experiences. an image, a melody, a scent, a sound,a taste. In this 2 night , 3 day workshop, through activities that encourage observation, mindfulness and reflection you will be guided to write your stories. Come join our Sense-sational Circle.
Joyce Rubin has been conducting workshops in shared story telling and writing for 10 years. In 2017 she published her first book, "How Do You Know When It's Saturday? " a collection of poetry, prose and pastels. She has presented for audiences in upstate NY libraries, bookstores, residences, churches and synagogues, the Academy for Lifelong Learning in Saratoga Springs on Zoom for members of Life Long Learners Group and Wiawaka in July, 2022.
Writing Workshop with Liza Frenette
August 15th, 2025
10:00am – 4:00 pm
$55 for the class and lunch
Have you had enough screen time? Come write by hand in journals or notebooks; come discover stories within as you take a day for yourself to sit in a rustic building on the lake and write.
Writing instructor Liza Frenette, an author, journalist, poet and essayist, will lead writing sessions using word prompts and positive response. This isn’t a “how-to” workshop – it is a “go within” workshop. There is no need to have a work in progress; all material generated will be new.
We will be listening to poems and short pieces, and then doing spontaneous writing based on prompts, followed by positive recall. Optional shared reading will take place at the end of the day.
We will be writing on small, silly, and serious topics ranging from nature, witnessing, a labyrinth walk, what’s in a name, life in a pandemic, or persona reflection.
It is about being present, noticing life, and finding your voice, whether that be for yourself, for stories to pass on to family, or for publication. The workshop will open pathways to that voice. The day will include time outside to walk the labyrinth or sit along the lake and write, as well as time for lunch.
Journal Writing as a Tool for Self-Discovery and Manifesting Your Best Life
August 18th, 2025
9:30am – 3:30 pm 12-1 lunch break
Workshop Led By Lynn Sickles
$40 for the class and lunch
Daily journal writing has the power to change your life. It is a tool for self-discovery and self-nurturing. Here is your chance to spend the day with your journal and like-minded women in a beautiful setting on the shores of Lake George.
During this day-long retreat we will discuss the importance of journal writing and how it can help us navigate the twists and turns on our life journey. We will spend most of our time together writing and some sharing of our thoughts about the process. Different journal writing techniques will be used and prompts provided. Writing times for each prompt will vary from as little as 3 minutes to 20 plus minutes.
Writing Workshop with Bernice Mennis
August 20th, 2025
1:00pm – 4:00 pm
$20 for the writing class
$30 for the class and day pass
The poet William Stafford said that following the threads of our own mind would lead us to the holyland. The definition of “holyland” is open and wide, deep and unknown. In this workshop we will follow our pen and heart to discover where we are led.
Bernice has lived in the Adirondack woodlands for over 42 years, the bounty and beauty of nature continually nourishing her with its bounty, diversity and beauty. Bernice Mennis taught literature and writing at Vermont’s Adult Degree Program and at Great Meadows prison. She wrote Breaking Out of Prison:a guide to consciousness,compassion and freedom, about her experience at Great Meadows and the rich writing of the men she taught, and Holding it All, a book of poetry exploring the challenge of holding what is complex and layered in our lives.
Creative Writing Workshop with Nancy Vineyard
August 28th, 2025
10:00am – 3:00 pm lunch break 12-1pm
$55 for the whole day workshop and lunch
Whether you have a novel in progress, haven't yet started that long desired memoir, or like to experiment with poetry, this workshop will help inspire you to get moving on that special project. Taught by Nanci Vineyard, SUNY Adirondack teacher and author of "The Boomerang House", "Slider University", and "The Adirondack Turkey Referee", whose fervent belief is that everyone has a story to tell, this one day workshop will focus on participatory exercises and group support. Bring your laptop or old-fashioned pen and paper, your ideas and experience. Time will be allowed to enjoy lunches at the lakeside outdoor seating, weather permitted.