I recently attended the August 2025 Highlights Foundation Whole-Novel Writing Workshop retreat in Boyds Mills, Pennsylvania, where I had my own (air conditioned) private cabin surrounded by gorgeous flora and fauna. I attended with 20 other childrens’ novel writers, half a dozen published mentors, and I received incredibly helpful, substantive feeback on my middle grade fantasy novel.
To say the retreat was a restful, recharging, and inspiring experience is vastly underselling it.
You arrive at this week-long retreat already having received an edit letter and 1:1 with your reader, so you actually start the retreat with a revision plan on day one. It’s a brilliant way to get the most out of your time at the workshop.
How the Workshop Works
Apply early and hopefully get in! You then submit your novel for reading to an assigned mentor. You receive a substantial edit letter and have a 1:1 zoom call with your reader before the retreat even starts. Once you’re at the retreat, the 20 or so writers are broken up into roughly 3 groups of 8 writers each, called a Braintrust group. The braintrust writers all submit your first chapters, and everyone in your braintrust group reads them before the retreat starts (not for editing, just for context). During the retreat, 3 of the mornings are spent with your braintrust, where everyone gets 45 minutes to discuss whatever they want about their book.
I ended up rewriting my whole novel, and the chapter I submitted didn’t exist by the time I went, but that was still perfectly fine. Everyone in the whole retreat is also invited to read an assigned book, and there’s a book club meeting one night to discuss it. There are lectures interspersed through each day, and plenty of time to write. You end the retreat with another 45-60 minute 1:1 with your mentor to discuss anything you want, ask questions, and brainstorm your next steps.
Pre-Retreat Zoom Calls
You’ve written a novel, applied to the workshop, and are schedule to attend–huzzah! There were two group Zoom calls prior to the retreat, one about 6 weeks out (or roughly a week before the submission deadline) and one about 2 weeks out. They were a great way to pre-meet the other writers and get great information about the retreat and ask questions. There’s also an online forum/platform called Canvas that the retreat utilized that offered the zoom recordings, more details, schedules, contact capabilities with attendees, and a place to discuss travel logistics for syncing up with carpooling.
Novel Submission for Reader Review
You start off by submitting your novel (up to roughly 80k words) for reading and review by your assigned reader/mentor. I was assigned to the amazing Sarah Arnonson. After reading her middle grade fairy godmother series, it was clear that care was taken to assign readers who either can help or have experience with the assorted novel genres and subject matter. Your novel doesn’t need to be perfect–your reader will give you big picture feedback, not line edits. Just send it in! (Also, the sooner you send it, the easier it is on them to read it and write edit letters for all their assigned writers).
Receive an Edit Letter & 1:1 Zoom Call with Your Reader
Sarah was very communicative to her writers and sent her edit letters within the time frame she’d promised, which was a little over a week before the retreat. My total edit letter was 19 pages long, with roughly 12 of those pages being specifically about my book (the rest was helpful information about plotting, pacing, approaching edits, and other great resources).
After the edit letter, we were invited to schedule our pre-retreat 1:1 zoom calls with our readers. I scheduled my call about 5 days after receiving the edit letter because I wanted some time to digest the critique and suggestions and come up with some ideas to discuss on the call. I ended up spending those 5 days brainstorming an entirely new plot (same concept, but entirely different stakes, timeline, etc.) and discussed that with Sarah. She then helped me refine my ideas, and I mostly left it that way until I arrived at the retreat.
Arrive at Campus
The campus is about an hour drive from the Scranton, PA airport. It’s a REALLY SMALL airport–1 bar/restaurant, and maybe 3 airlines go there (United, American, and some commuter to Florida). Baggage claim is FAST. I stopped for a single glass of wine, thinking my transport company would arrive an hour after I landed. They texted me before I even finished my wine, so I raced down to baggage claim, which had already concluded and my luggage was in storage. The security guys had to call in a ground crewman to unlock and retrieve my suitcase (whoops!). I say all this because you won’t need to plan for a lot of time on your return trip if you take the Scranton airport. A lot of writers also chose to drive directly from their homes in PA/NY/etc, and many others flew into Philadelphia or Laguardia and drove from there (roughly 2 hours’ drive from each airport).
Additionally, note that there will be quite a few people driving. There will be a logistics thread on the online workshop platform for people to discuss meeting up for carpooling. Highlights may even reinstate their own commute vehicles. But before you rent a vehicle or reach out to transport companies, wait until you get access to the platform to book. You might find a buddy to drive with.
Additionally, I live on the West Coast, so I couldn’t reliably make it to the Highlights campus before 5:30PM with the time zone change and hour commute from the airport (as I’d assumed I’d be there for much longer than I was). As such, I elected to arrive the day before and paid for an extra night on site at Highlights. Some other writers stayed at an airport hotel in Scranton and drove out the next day, but ultimately I quite enjoyed the extra day in the cabin to get my bearings and have time to decompress from the long day of travel. While Highlights is currently fundraising for a more accessible walkway to their cabins, be prepared to either request assistance (which they’re more than happy to give) or heft your luggage without relying on wheels to your lodging. Once they have the pathway added, it will no doubt be far easier to maneuver.
There were a lot of warnings about ticks. I don’t live/go where ticks are common, so I was particularly concerned about this. Ultimately it wasn’t an issue and I apparently used so much bug spray (provided by Highlights) that I didn’t even get a single bug bite. I was probably too cautious re: ticks, and I would change what clothes I bring next time. I did bring some workout pants and three pairs of tube socks in case I went out and walked around the trails (rest were short socks), but I hadn’t planned on that being my primary attire (I brought a lot of dresses because it was expected to be warm in the high 70s/low 80s). I ended up being overly cautious and opted for the workout attire with long socks (recommend light colored clothing to see ticks easier), and only near the end of the trip did I wear my nicer, planned stuff. It was low 80s and muggy the first two days, but then it rained (which was amazing) and it was a beautiful mid 60s the rest of the retreat.
Settle into Your Lodging
I was assigned Cabin 19, which was incredible. It’s not in the original horseshoe of cabins, it’s in the slightly newer cabin area. The Lodge is more like a hotel, where the common room is nice and spacious, but you might not be motivated to write from your room the whole time like you would be in the cabins. That said, those who did stay in the Lodge noted it was nicely social with all the other writers.
I didn’t get around to looking at the Farm House, but if you can get a cabin, I would recommend it! My cabin had a mini fridge filled with soda and water, a nice ceiling fan, and a very good air conditioner. The bed and pillows were incredibly comfortable (bed was firm, which I love), and the bathroom was more than servicable. They have a thermometer/humidity detector inside, which was nice to see, and plenty of access to various bugsprays. I only had one large, flying, unidentified bug issue, and felllow writer Heather helped me out with it when I wussed out about it.
The campus itself is GORGEOUS. The barn is the main meeting place and dining hall, where we would meet for meals and seminars. There’s a loft upstairs where yoga was offered, and there’s plenty of writing areas with great views into the word garden behind the barn available to all. The back patio of the barn was gorgeous and a great place for appetizers and evening book club, and we eventually took group pictures in the word rock garden behind the barn. The creek is a short walk past the Farm House, and there are chairs and a writing table just off the walking path (the walking path has higher grass, and recommended long pants/socks). Plenty of rabbits and deer, and thankfully I didn’t meet any bears.
Workshop Schedule
The schedule pretty much went like this each day:
Breakfast: 8-9AM (kitchen staff preferred we be there by at least 8:30)
Morning Lecture: 9-9:30 on topics like setting, theme, characterization, etc. from one of the mentors
9:30-12PM: Breakout groups (braintrust) where you each get ~45 minutes to discuss your submitted chapter (or anything you want–I talked about my new plot outline and asked for suggestions re: certain plot holes I’d found)
12-1PM: Lunch (after lunch is a great time to reach out to other mentors to see if they’d make time to meet with you. (Don’t be afraid to ask for their time, they’re there to help!)
1-5:30PM: Free writing time. Write, hike, sleep — whatever you need!
5:30-6PM: Appetizers and mingling
6-7PM: Diinner & dessert
7-9ish: After dinner lecture, exercises, book club review, etc.
Working with other Mentors
I knew I would get another 1:1 with Sarah at the end of the workshop, but I wanted to really flesh out my updated storyline as much as I possibly could. That meant reaching out to other mentors to discuss specific issues. I did the character interview with Crystal Allen for one of my secondary characters, which was a little outside my comfort zone, but ultimatley a great experience and I highly recommend you do it!
On the first night of the workshop, all the braintrust mentors introduced themselves and identified some element of writing that they were particularly good at, and I wrote those down and sought out plot and theme mentors. In particular, I worked with my own braintrust mentor, Alison Myers (who has SO much great information about the Highlights campus, as she married into the family, and she’s an amazing writer, mentor, and wonderful person in general). I also worked with Nancy Werlin, who stoiclly allowed me to word vomit at her, and with maybe three pointed plot questions she helped reshape and strengthen my story. I’m incredibly grateful for her insight and apologize for the sheer amount of magical nonsense I threw at her in describing my plot. I also spoke with Nicole Valentine (amazing STEM related insights that helped me a LOT), and a few other mentors. Erin Entrada Kelly read us her second Newberry Award acceptance speech, and it was incredibly inspiring.
FYI your mentors are published authors, and you can buy their books on campus and get them signed! (Or bring your own for them to sign!)
Final 1:1 With Your Reader
Coming into my final 1:1 with Sarah, I felt like I had a pretty solid outline of the new way to write the story, and I’d spent all my afternoon free time each day refining that outline to simple steps and then filling out scene-by-scene ideas to ensure I knew where my story was going and where I still had weak points. Sarah was amazing and helped me fill in a lot of those weak points. I spent the final day filling out more of my outline, and I filled up maybe 30 or so pages of my composition notebook, in addition to computer outlining as well.
The complete freedom from obligations was AMAZING. While I absolutely love my partner, our families, my pets, and our house…it’s just different when there’s literally no interruptions to your writing. Where you have no distractions like t.v., food shopping, cooking, cleaning, attending to pet or partner needs, or do anything other than write, brainstorm, and thinking about writing. It was quiet, serene, and refreshing. My cabin’s view was beautiful and the sheer number of windows allowed me to feel like I was in my own little bubble in nature without having to touch (or be touched by) any of it.
I love being near nature…just not up close and personal with it.
Do the workshop. You won’t regret it.
Scholarships are available upon application. This workshop will change your life. Online is great, but physically going to the campus is so incredibly immersive and worth it–plus, the fine folks you meet there are an irreplacable part of the experience.
