Part Two: The Beginning (Nightmare or dream-come-true?)

doretta pirollo martelli

Casting my personal demons aside, I focused on the positives: Four fabulous days of socializing, informative workshops and writing sessions, plus Writers’ BINGO — who doesn’t love BINGO? (Nothing nefarious about that, right? Maybe I’m getting the knack of this!) The whole adventure kicked off with a first-timers icebreaker session, followed by a cocktail and hors d’oeuvres reception, and ended with an intimate grouping of more than a dozen published authors reading their work. And graciously shaking hands and signing books. Eyes peeled, just in case [x].

WEDNESDAY

Before

Part One: Personal Demons (Get thee behind me)

doretta pirollo martelli

If you’ve ever read Samantha Verant’s The Writers’ Retreat, Julia Bartz’s The Writing Retreat: A Novel, or any of the many books dedicated to writers gathering at a prestigious’ retreat, then you know how they go. Unsuspecting souls move out of their comfort zone, hoping to write with a famous author only to discover there is usually an evil plot to unalive the lesser-known writers and steal their work. And if your mind works anything like mine (commiserating here if that’s the case), the thought of actually attending a real, live writers’ retreat terrifies you, grips your heart with fear, right? What? Is it only me? Hmmm…

Attempting to conquer my demons, this past April, I attended my first-ever writers retreat. First. Ever. The WFWA Alexandria Retreat. And my fears have been . . .  um, diminished [x].

I spent three hours driving from my home in South Jersey, right outside of Philly, reminding myself to breathe as I convinced myself there were no nefarious plans afoot. Positive there were no nefarious plans afoot. Hoping there were no nefarious plans afoot. Praying there were no nefarious plans afoot. Just breathe [x].

Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff

My children devoured the American Girl Historical Characters books, which explore critical moments in U.S. history from the 1700s through the 20th century. Published by Mattel, protagonists are physically represented by dolls with historically accurate clothing, accessories, furniture, and even pets. Since 1986, kids have been obsessed with them. In my family, dolls were passed down from cousin to sibling to friend, but the rule was you had to read the entire six-book set before even considering putting a doll on your birthday list.

My youngest daughter’s favorite was Kaya, a Native American girl living in 1764 who investigates colonialism and cultural erasure as her Nez Perce tribe is threatened by settlers. My middle daughter loved Josefina, who grapples with a caste system that indigenous and mixed-heritage people in 1824 New Mexico dealt with. The three of us spent many nights huddled up in my bed, reading the books together.

These stories reveal the systemic injustices that have existed since America’s inception—a truth that is now part of the so-called “woke ideology” that the current administration is trying to erase. According to PEN America, a nonprofit that has been fighting to protect freedom of expression since 1922, reports that in the last school year, nearly 7,000 books were banned in 87 districts across 23 states; since 2021, PEN America has recorded nearly 23,000 book bans, typically targeting those that discuss sexual and gender identity, race and racism, and social justice.

Lynne Curry

Many novelists reach a moment when their manuscript feels like a marathon without a finish line. The middle sags. The characters stall. Or life interrupts and the once-exciting story now feels like a long, uphill climb. 

Flash fiction are stories typically under 1,000 and often much shorter. Writing these short pieces can feel like stepping out of a crowded room and into fresh air. You still chase emotion and meaning, but you do it in a form that demands speed and bold choices.

Since January 2026, I’ve sold nine short stories, many of them flash. Over time, I’ve published twenty-nine short pieces. These flashes have strengthened my writing, expanded my readership, and kept my website lively while my novels make their way toward publication. 

Teri M Brown

Turn your book into a movie.

Put your book in front of 10,000 active readers.

Gain 1,000+ TikTok followers.

Laura Drake

Learning how you write a book is like finding your way in a pitch black room full of furniture. You can learn by barking your shins, but there are less painful ways. 

Does it make you crazy trying to locate details in your WIP? In which chapter did the dog first show up? Or the first kiss? Or harder yet, the smaller details—what kind of shoes did the old man wear the second time the heroine met him? How old was the character when she met her husband? What year was that? How many words are left to stay within genre limits?

I know I do.

Jen Sinclair

Back in the days of dial-up Internet, and long before the rise of social media, there was blogging. For writers especially, blogging gave us an outlet, an opportunity to sharpen our skills, to tell stories, and to hone our voices. We wrote about whatever meant something to us. And we blogged to connect with readers and each other long before the world became overconnected.

Though many of us have abandoned blogging in favor of social media, the practice still has value. It’s with this in mind that WFWA is launching Write Away, a blog that takes you behind the screens, laptops, tablets, and pages of the amazing community of WFWA members. We’re hoping to become a reliable source of insight for every step of the writing and publishing journey, from the perspective of those going through it in real time.

Whether you’re a WFWA member or a hopeful writer scrolling through, all are welcome to subscribe and follow. We want nothing more than to provide the kind of support that helps fill your creative tank so that you, too, can write away.