Workshops & Retreats

This page lists my upcoming writing workshops and writing retreats. I also offer one-to-one mentoring, and manuscript assessments and editing. Please click here for more details.

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13-15 April: Feminist Writing

8-10 July: Writing About the Outdoors

30 Sept-2 Oct: Making History

6-8 Jan 2027: Life Writing

Flexible dates: intensive one-to-one writing physio in Harrogate

Thurs 19 March, 9.30am-4.30pm: Finding Your Story

Thurs 4 June, 9.30am-4.30pm: Researching and Writing About Real Lives

Thurs 17 Sept, 9.30am-4.30pm: Interweaving Stories

2-27 November: No-Fi-Mo! Non-Fiction Month

Thurs 10 Dec, 9.30am-4.30pm: Writing about Running, Hiking and Climbing

Dates to be agreed on point of booking: Five-Day One-to-One Intensive Writing Physio, Online 

Recorded Online Writing Courses

Feminist Voice: Creative Writing Course for Writers on Women and Feminism (consists of six two-hour recorded writing workshops)

No-Fi-Mo: Non-Fiction Month! This will take place in November 2026 and will consist of live, online sessions, which will be available shortly afterwards as recordings – so you can participate fully live, or fully via recordings, or a mixture

Recorded Online Writing Workshops (two hours each)

The following are all part of my Feminist Voice Creative Writing Course for Writers on Women and Feminism, but can be purchased individually. To find out more and to book, please click here.

Overcoming the Challenges of Writing About Women and Feminism

Fleshing Out: Writing the Body

The BiograpHer: Researching and Writing Women’s Lives

The Personal and the Political

The Survivor’s Voice: Writing After Trauma

Mother Tongue: Forging Female-Friendly Language

Intensive Five-Day One-to-One Writing Physio: Residential

Intensive Five-Day One-to-One Writing Physio: Online

Thurs 19 March, 9.30am-4.30pm

Finding Your Story: an online, one-day workshop

Do you find it hard to settle on a story for your writing? In this live online one-day workshop, we’ll explore the components of good stories, whether in fiction or non-fiction. We’ll discuss how to find potential kernels, and how to coax good stories out of them.
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Mon 13 April - Weds 15 April

Feminist Writing: a residential writing retreat

Whether you’re writing about feminist issues directly, or whether you want to develop complex and interesting female figures, this three-day residential writing retreat is for you. We’ll explore what ‘feminist writing’ means, across genres, and we’ll find ways to negotiate bias in source materials. We’ll also experiment with crafting creative languages that stay true to our feminist intentions.
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Thurs 4 June, 9.30am-4.30pm

Researching & Writing About Real Lives: an online, one-day workshop

This live online one-day workshop will raise ideas and discussion points about how to research the lives of real people, and the creative and ethical considerations of writing about them, across a range of genres.
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Weds 8 July - Fri 10 July

Writing About the Outdoors: a three-day residential writing retreat

This three-day residential writing retreat is designed for anyone who wants to write about the outdoors, whether as a runner, hiker or climber, or in other capacities. We’ll encounter tried-and-tested ways of representing outdoor adventures, and we’ll experiment with going off the beaten track in our own writings. We’ll explore different ways of unearthing and telling the stories that are contained both within our own bodies and within the landscapes through which we roam.
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Thurs 17 Sept, 9.30am-4.30pm

Interweaving Stories: an online, one-day workshop

Are you interested in telling the stories of multiple figures, at the same time? In this live, online one-day workshop, we’ll experiment with ways of interweaving different narratives, and with managing the shifts in focus and voice.
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Weds 30 Sept - Fri 2 Oct

Making History: a three-day residential writing retreat

Are you writing about a historical figure or event, or want to incorporate historical details into your writing, whether in fiction, non-fiction, or other genres? In this three-day residential writing retreat, we’ll encounter fresh approaches to researching and writing about past lives, eras and changes. We’ll experiment with different ways of incorporating historical details, whether with an eye to authenticity or pastiche, and we’ll explore structural issues concerned with representing cultural and political shifts in the past.
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2 November - 27 November

No-Fi-Mo: Non-Fiction Month!

Want an injection of energy and commitment into your non-fiction writing? Join me for a month of online evening workshops, writing exercises and one-to-one support, with special guest tutors. On Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays in November, there’ll be live, online evening classes (also available as recordings), with independent writing exercises set for Thursdays and Fridays, and, over the month, two 30-min one-to-one meetings with me to discuss your work. Week 1 will be dedicated to finding and crafting stories; week 2 to writing lives; week 3 to narrating historical and social context; week 4 to landscapes. There’s no pressure: all the classes and exercises are optional. No-Fi-Mo will offer daily writing practice, fresh approaches and a supportive community, which will give any project an enormous boost!
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Thurs 10 Dec, 9.30am-4.30pm

Writing about Running, Hiking and Climbing: an online, one-day workshop

Do your outdoor adventures – running, hiking and/or climbing, on foot, or with mobility aids –tell a story? Have you thought about writing about these activities and do you need some inspiration to get started? Are you already engaged in writing about running, walking or climbing, and would you benefit from fresh ideas about themes, perspective, language and structure? In this live, online, one-day workshop, we’ll experiment with crafting compelling, original stories about our outdoor adventures, and with voicing experiences that often go unnoticed.
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Weds 6 Jan - Fri 8 Jan 2027

Life Writing: a three-day residential writing retreat

Whether you’re writing memoir, biography, or other non-fictional or fictional genres, this three-day residential writing retreat will explore different ways of telling the story of a life. We will identify surprising physical and behavioural details through which character can be revealed, and we’ll experiment with narrating significant moments in people’s lives, such as turning points and traumas. A life is a complicated network of events and relationships, and this retreat will help us to outline its complexities faithfully and deliberately.
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Flexible dates: to be agreed on point of booking

Five-Day Intensive Writing Physio, One-to-One: Residential

Would you benefit from five days of intensive writing work, with daily one-to-one tutorials? Come and spend five days in beautiful Harrogate, with all meals provided, as well as a dedicated private work space, a meeting room for daily one-to-one tutorials with me, and gorgeous surrounding countryside to freshen your mind. You can send me up to 25,000 words in advance, and together we’ll work on any writerly issues you may be having. Meeting for 60-90 mins each day, I’ll make suggestions for revisions and improvements at the level of both structure and individual lines. You'll then spend the intervening time working on your writing, experimenting with my suggestions, or even devising new material. This retreat is designed for both experienced writers, and for beginners, who may wish to draw on intensive support in kick-starting a project. It would also be suitable for anyone honing a manuscript prior to submission to agents or publishers, or postgraduate students wanting a second eye on a project prior to submission.
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Flexible dates: to be agreed on point of booking

Five-Day Intensive Writing Physio, One-to-One: Online

This is the online version of the residential intensive writing physio. It won't include a hotel or meals, but it will be an enormously valuable opportunity to dedicate yourself to your project for a week, alongside a supportive expert tutor. As with the residential version, you can send me up to 25,000 words in advance, and we'll work on it together. Meeting for 60-90 mins each day, I'll make suggestions for revisions and improvements at the level of both structure and individual lines. You'll then spend the intervening time working on your writing, experimenting with my suggestions, or even devising new material. This retreat is designed for both experienced writers, and for beginners, who may wish to draw on intensive support in kick-starting a project. It would also be suitable for anyone honing a manuscript prior to submission to agents or publishers, or postgraduate students wanting a second eye on a project prior to submission.
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Feminist Voice Writing Course: An Online, Recorded, Six-Session Course

The Feminist Voice course is designed for anyone who is involved or interested in writing about women and feminism. It is aimed primarily at non-fiction writers, but there are exercises and discussion points that are also relevant to fiction writers, poets, and writers for screen and stage. My focus is creative rather than prescriptive. I do not seek to teach feminist history or theory in these workshops, and the course is not geared towards any specific definition, theory or practice of feminism. The course is therefore intended for participants who already have their own interests in women’s lives and feminism, and ideas for what they wish to write about. I will support you in bringing to light the creative issues that are most relevant to your own work, and in developing your own responses. You can purchase the course as a complete set of six two-hour sessions, or you can purchase each workshop individually.
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"We had a very clear and structured plan and explored ways of writing that I had never thought of: it was inspiring"
Workshop participant
Workshop participant
"This has given me so much to think about and... a lot of questions that I need to answer and is a great jumping off point."
Workshop participant
Workshop participant
"this was a brilliant, intelligent and useful session"
Workshop participant
Workshop participant
"nothing short of kind, communicative and warm throughout"
Workshop participant
Workshop participant
"I have gone a long way to achieve what I set out to do with my piece... thank you for your support in the development of my work and my thoughts."
One-to-one tutorial client
One-to-one tutorial client
“[It was] an amazing job to cover so much in such a mixed group, without anyone feeling like they weren’t part of the whole”
Retreat participant
Retreat participant
“I enjoyed all the workshops and have come away with so many ideas…I just loved it”
Retreat participant
Retreat participant
“I do writing courses occasionally but they tend to go over the same things. It was so interesting to approach things differently – to think differently, to learn different ways of doing things. Thank you so much, Rachel, you are a wonderful teacher and facilitator. I had a fabulous time.”
Retreat participant
Retreat participant
“A lovely hotel. Food excellent”... “I really enjoyed this setting. [The outdoor activities were] a welcome shake-up – I loved them.”
Retreat participant
Retreat participant
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