Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some answers we’ve pulled together from the questions people ask us most often. If you have any questions you haven’t seen answered below, or you’d like more clarification about anything, please contact us and we’ll do our best to answer.

What experience level do I have to be to join you, and is there an application process? Can I attend Go and Write! retreats even if I’m not a writer?

We host as many new or emerging writers as we do established writers who simply need time away from the daily grind to refresh their souls or kickstart their writing. There is no application process to attend our retreats, although we do ask to meet with each new-to-us potential participant by Zoom. This allows us to get to know you a bit to gauge if our retreats are a good fit, and it’s an efficient way for you to ask us questions about specific retreats or how we shape our retreats in general.

We don’t ask potential participants to take writing “tests” or to have a minimum skill level to join us; we meet writers where they are on their journey. We don’t set minimum word counts or expectations about output—though we’ll support you if you want to set that kind of expectation for yourself—but we do ask that you plan to take your writing seriously while you’re on retreat with us. And while we allow and even encourage participants to bring a travel companion, whether or not they’re a writer, it’s with the understanding that this fellow traveller will be supportive of your writing journey and that of the other participants.

If you have a desire to be in the company of like-minded souls, some of whom have written only a little and others who have published extensively, and you’re a lifelong learner who understands and respects boundaries, our retreats are probably a good fit for you.

All participants—new and returning—must also review our Expectations, Rules, and Refunds page before registering, and agree to abide by the conditions set out there.

Do I have to attend the workshops, group readings, meetings, and offsite tours if I don’t want to? What about my travel companion?

We ask the writers in the group to make every effort to join us on all of the group activities and literary programming, and we ensure there’s a healthy amount of alone time so we can keep the focus on writing and allow social batteries to recharge. Non-writing participants are encouraged to attend as much or as little of the programming as they like, but it’s not expected that they will attend workshops, for example, unless they want to, in which case we’re happy to have them.

Of course, if you’re not feeling well, that’s another story altogether, but if you plan to skip workshops, meetings, or group readings because you don’t believe they will be of benefit to you, you might be better suited to a self-guided retreat than one of ours. We don’t overload our itineraries with a lot of programming, and these components work together to create and strengthen bonds between the members of the group as well as us as facilitators. And as often as we’ve hosted these retreats, we always learn something new, ourselves, just from the conversations generated during these sessions.

Even if you’re a well-established writer, we hope you’ll be open to the idea that there’s always more to learn and it can’t hurt to have refreshers on good writing practices. Gerard is careful and considerate and has extensive experience as an author, educator, and mentor; opting out of certain aspects of the programming is short-changing yourself.

I understand that you will provide written feedback on my writing as part of the retreat registration—is this required? Will others see it?

As mentioned above, we don’t ask potential participants to take writing “tests” or to have a minimum skill level to join us, but we do ask registered participants to be open to learning, and at a certain point before the retreat, we invite participants to submit a short writing sample for our eyes only. Your sample stays with us and provides a foundation for your one-on-one discussion about your writing, and it’s entirely up to you how and if you decide to implement any recommendations. Janie reads the samples to get an overall sense of your writing, and Gerard reads each sample multiple times and prepares his written commentary in advance, and he shares it with you—and only you—during the retreat. The writing samples also help Gerard customize the workshops for each retreat.

For those who are new to writing, you can trust that we respect the courage it takes to share your writing, and Gerard treats your submission with great care and respect as he’s preparing his written commentary. For those who are already experienced writers, Gerard is a multi-award-winning author who has taught writing for decades, and he’s also a professional editor and has privately mentored several authors who’ve gone on to win multiple awards; other published authors who’ve joined us in the past have said they got a lot out of his commentary and insights, and have applied them in their work going forward.

Will there be group critiques?

It can be a vulnerable experience, sharing your writing with someone else for feedback, and as Gerard prepares his written commentary, he treats each submission with respect, pairing kindness with honesty. To this end, we avoid group critiques during our retreats—many have opinions, but not all have the qualifications to offer advice or the skills to impart commentary in a way that is not damaging to the recipient. Gerard has his Ph.D. as well as an M.A. and B.Ed. These distinctions and credentials represent many years of both theory and practice under the guidance of talented and renowned teachers and mentors. He also has considerable experience as a mentor himself, coupled with lived experience as a traditionally-published author who works regularly with other editors and publishing houses.

As your retreat hosts, our purpose is to create the conditions to help you get focused and to become a better writer, and while some retreat participants may have a genuine desire to help and have expertise, some may offer conflicting advice, or worse. We ask participants to avoid sharing their work for critique from the other participants while on retreat with us—we know there are some great critique groups out there, but we can only be certain of our own intentions, with no hidden agendas or insecurities behind our feedback.

What writing genres do you support?

We support writers of all genres, including fiction, playwrights, screenwriters, romance writers, memoirists, poets, children’s writers, short story, fantasy, travel writers, creative non-fiction, etc.

Dr. Gerard Collins has his BA in education and a PhD in Literature and has mentored professional and emerging writers in all of the above and more. You can visit Gerard’s author website to learn more about him and his credentials.

While we recognize there are differences between these fields, the bottom line is this: good storytelling and thoughtful use of language applies universally, and our ultimate goal is to help participants become better writers.

How do you decide where to hold your retreats?

We try to vary our retreat destinations, budget, group size, and duration. This allows us to keep things fresh for participants and ourselves, and to offer a blend of experiences for as many writers as possible.

We’ve hosted retreats in Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and England, but we also host retreats here in Canada, including Nova Scotia and our home province of New Brunswick, as well as Gerard’s birthplace, Newfoundland. We’re also looking at hosting retreats in Western Canada, so stay tuned…

What goes into the cost of a retreat?

There are several elements that make up the cost of our retreats, including such things as accommodations, coaches, outings, meals, and other experiences, as well as the writing component, which is what sets us apart from a regular tour.

Another of the unique features of a Go and Write! retreat versus regular group travel is our venues. We’re writers, too, and we aren’t just looking for a place to lay our heads at the end of the day. We want to stay in places that are conducive to writing, and we aim for quiet, inspirational, and comfortable settings. In fact, our venues, themselves, play a significant role in the overall retreat experience—we spend months researching hotels, castles, and manor houses, seeking out places that kindle our creativity and are welcoming to writers.

Similarly, we enhance our retreats by hiring local tour guides, storytellers, and musicians. This supports the local economy while giving participants authentic experiences that are meant to spark creativity.

Do you offer scholarships, grants, or subsidies of any kind? How can I make a retreat more possible, financially?

We sincerely wish we were in a position to offer financial assistance, but we’re a small business (it’s just the two of us) and as full-time writers, ourselves, we simply don’t have the means to subsidize others. When we’re pulling together these retreats, we do our best to negotiate competitive pricing with our providers and we keep the costs as low as possible for participants, but there’s no getting around the fact that travel, hotels, coaches, and meals are expensive. Tariff wars and pandemics also have far-reaching economic consequences, increasing costs on everything from heating and food to fuel for coaches and higher wages for the hard working people who are employed in the hospitality industry.

That said, previous participants have made a Go and Write! retreat more affordable by exploring the following options:

- Sharing a room and costs: We don’t ask people to share rooms on Go and Write! retreats and we don’t pair strangers, but writers can bring another adult to share their room and costs as a “double” registration. This second person can be another writer, but we also host non-writing guests (spouse, sibling, friend, etc.), and many of our venues have a handful of rooms with two beds (just ask when you contact us). Non-writer guests are welcome to participate in as few or as many of the retreat activities as they wish, and we’re happy to have them join us on retreat as long as they respect the fact that it’s a writing retreat and are content to follow the rules we set out. Truth be told, some of our very favourite retreat memories have involved a “non-writer” travelling companion.

- Payment options and schedule: Each retreat has an individual payment schedule, and if you want to space out your payments within these milestones so they’re more manageable, we can set you up on a payment plan so you pay in instalments.

- Grants and professional development opportunities for professional authors: Our credentials help make Go and Write! retreats viable candidates for funding support applications, either through arts organizations or employers. Gerard holds multiple awards for his novels and short stories, and he has earned several degrees, including a doctorate in English Literature, a Master of Arts, and a Bachelor of Education, and Janie is also a multi-award winning author and arts administrator. We don’t share this information to toot our own horns, but to explain why Go and Write! retreats are viewed as professional development opportunities and are good candidates for financial support. We select our venues, regions, and activities for their creative inspiration, and our choices are also often based on their literary significance, which also makes our retreats appealing for arts funding.

Many provinces and states have non-profit arts organizations that provide professional development grants to professional artists and writers, as well as travel funding to help with project research. The employers of some of our previous attendees, including university professors and those who work in communications and marketing, have funded a portion or all of the retreat as a professional development expense.

- Tax deduction for professional writers: As a registered corporation, Go and Write! issues receipts for our retreats, and professional authors who earn income from their writing can consider keeping their receipts for their registration and other expenses incurred on retreat if they want to claim the retreat on their tax returns.

If you can’t afford a Go and Write! retreat, we recommend that you consider joining your provincial or state writers’ group. Oftentimes these non-profit organizations offer writing retreats and workshops that are more affordable simply because they’re closer to home, and it’s a great way to get to know your local writing community. We know it’s not the same as traveling to write with like-minded souls, but these local writing groups can help offer some support and companionship to what is often a solitary craft, and that may be something you can do while you save for a retreat with us in the future.

Do you charge extra for solo travellers, a.k.a. a “single supplement”?

No—the “single” cost is actually the true cost of the retreat, but if you share your room with someone else, you’re splitting the total room cost between you, which lowers the price per person.

Can I or my travel companion join you on a portion of a retreat instead of the entire experience?

We don’t allow people to join us halfway through a retreat—it’s too disruptive to the creative and intimate bubble that we work so hard to establish with the group.

Our retreats are focused on writing and creativity and participants often share personal stories through their writing, which can make for an intimate experience. When participants and their travel companions partake of the entire retreat, it makes all the difference in the overall comfort of the group—we tend to host a lot of introverts, and we aim to establish an inspiring, quiet, and stable atmosphere right from the start, which strengthens as the retreat goes on and everyone settles in and gets comfortable with each other. Adding new elements in the form of a new person at that point just doesn’t work so well. Similarly, when someone leaves the group halfway through the retreat, participants spend time saying their goodbyes prematurely instead of staying focused on their writing.

These are difficult decisions we’ve had to make, and we recognize that we could potentially earn more income if we allowed partial registrations, but ultimately, we try to do what benefits the group as a whole.

Why don’t you include airfare in your costs?

We’re fortunate to have people join us from all over the world, so including airfare just doesn’t make sense. We’ve also found that our participants often want to get a head start on their trip, extend their stay, or visit other countries since they’re already traveling, and it makes more sense for them to make those arrangements themselves.

Do you recommend trip insurance?

Absolutely, and not just medical insurance for once you start traveling—we also highly recommend trip cancellation and interruption insurance. Talk to a few providers to see what they do and don’t cover. See our Expectations, Rules, and Refunds page for more information about the importance of trip insurance and our cancellation/refunds policy, and see each individual retreat webpage for payment schedules and cancellation policies.

Why do you take a non refundable deposit?

We take non-refundable deposits because our providers also require non-refundable deposits from us. As a small business (it’s just the two of us), it gets risky when people cancel participation at any point in the process, but particularly as we draw closer to the retreat date. Writers tend to plan their trips 8-12 months in advance and our retreats usually sell out, so once someone has registered and taken a spot, it becomes very difficult to fill that spot, even just a couple of months later. We also have to pay for additional time and money on advertising.

That said, if a participant has purchased appropriate trip cancellation insurance, then, depending on their coverage, the non-refundable portion of their registration may be eligible for a claim, and we’re happy to provide whatever documentation we can to support their claim.

Do you offer refunds?

Your non-refundable deposit is 100% non-refundable and non-transferable, including any credit card processing fees; we also have to pay non-refundable and non-transferable deposits to multiple service providers. We don’t make exceptions, but depending on the timing of your cancellation, some of your additional payment(s) may be refundable. Please see our Expectations, Rules, and Refunds page for more information about our cancellation/refunds policy, and see each individual retreat webpage for payment schedules and cancellation policies.