Writing in the Dark | The CAMP

Registration opens Monday, February 17, 6 AM Central Time

Hi, friends,

We have exciting news to share. Our Writing in the Dark: The CAMP is launched! We’ll be spending 4 nights/5 days at the beautiful and historic, one-of-a-kind Camp Wandawega in Elkhorn, Wisconsin, August 18-22.

We’ve been dreaming up this adventure of words and the world since last May’s Thursday Thread on camp memories. What I said then was:

I’m planning a writer’s camp for 2025.

It’s true. I am! A place to write in the dark together for real. I’ve led group retreats for about 12 years now, in Mexico, on the North Shore of Lake Superior, on Madeline Island, and on a tiny island in the middle of a good old fashioned Midwestern summer lake.

But those retreats were smaller, and, well, fancier. This one will be a little different, a real summer camp kind of vibe.

I’ll let you know more about it soon, in the weeks and months ahead.

Meanwhile, I need your help! I need to hear from people who actually attended summer camp as kids and teens, etc., and who loved it. Who found themselves there.

Can you tell me about the shapes and textures of your camp experience, the woolen threads that stayed with you, the fragments of night sky that never left your skin and bones, the moments you shared with other humans or alone with yourself or the silent woodsmoke or the crickets or the north star that sent you, guided by your heart’s desire, in the direction of your future self?

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I can’t wait to hear your stories, whatever they might be, even if you, like me, never got to go or had a bummer of a time.

Your responses on that thread were so rich and detailed and gorgeous, so funny and weird and fun, so alive with the energy of friendship, nature, and discovery, that we knew we had to find a way to make this happen. And while it took more than a few weeks or even months to find and fit exactly the pieces we’d hoped for, now it is happening!

After a brief priority registration period for the WITD SCHOOL community, open registration portal for CAMP begins early Monday morning, February 17. If interested, you’ll initiate the registration process with a brief (no more than 500 words) statement about what you hope to experience at CAMP and how you see yourself as a positive member of a healthy creative community, including relevant past experience, if any. We aren’t evaluating your writing; CAMP is not competitive, it’s collaborative. We just want to be able to say hello, answer questions, and give you a chance to make sure CAMP is right for you. Space is limited to 42 writers, and we anticipate CAMP will fill fairly quickly—therefore, you might want to check out the webpage now, read the FAQ, look over available rooms, and ask any questions before the portal opens Monday morning.

We’d be honored to write with you in person in August!

Love,

Jeannine + Billie