Join Whale Rock faculty for a week of writing and community

Make lifelong writer friends with this six-day, five-night getaway. Faculty and writers will cook together, eat together, walk together, laugh together, and of course write together.

Our home away from home is the lovely Caboose Farm, a 200-acre event venue located in Sabillasville, Maryland, not far from Baltimore, MD, Washington, D.C., and Harrisburg, PA. The countryside property offers rustic charm, modern amenities, walking paths and, yes, a caboose.

Join faculty members Gary Schmidt and Kathryn Erskine with special guests Charlesbridge Senior Editor Karen Boss and Patricia Lee Gauch for this week designed to enable you to take a break from the 'real world' and make progress on your writing, all the while surrounded by your peers.

What To Expect

Our Caboose Farm event is predominantly a writing retreat. You will have quiet writing time through lunch each day. After lunch we will offer an optional writing prompt and then you may continue writing in the afternoons. We will come together for lunch and dinner.

Each participant will have two, 30-minute one-on-one meetings, each with a different instructor, where participants can bring pages, discuss projects, and brainstorm.

Writers will come away, we hope, with more pages written, editorial guidance and a community of writer friends.

Our week includes:

Two one-on-one meetings, each with a different instructor
Special guest Patricia Lee Gauch
Daily writing time
Communal meals
Optional prompts
Relaxed community time with fellow writers

This Retreat Is For You If

You are drafting or revising a novel OR working on a series of picture books
You need or want dedicated time to work on a project
You feel like you’ve been writing in a vacuum and you seek community
You are on a deadline and need to make progress on your project quickly
You’ve lost momentum on a manuscript
You would benefit from expert insight into your project or process
You’ve only met Whale Rock friends and faculty online, and you’d love the opportunity to connect in person

*NOTE: There is no submission required for this event.

Faculty

Gary Schmidt, Shelley Tanaka and Karen Boss will be your hosts. Special guest will be Patricia Lee Gauch.

Important Details

Lodging

Students will share the multiple houses on the property for sleeping and writing. Each house is different, but comes with the usual bedrooms, bathrooms, living room, and kitchen.

There are three types of accommodations with some variables:

Private rooms and shared bathrooms in the hall. (Within this category we have numerous queen and king bedrooms, a few basement rooms, and two "lux" rooms with a shared bathroom and a shared private den space. This last option is ideal for two friends traveling together.)
Private rooms and private bathrooms.
One twin room, which can be shared by two friends to bring costs down.

**Contact us for an adjusted price if you would like to share a queen or king room with a friend or if you would like to take a full house with friends. (Additional sofa beds are an option for groups renting an entire home.)

Work Space: Each house has a kitchen table and we aim to get a second table into each house as well. Additionally, the property has a bright, three-story event space with windows looking out at the property. Each floor has tables where you can work. There will be at least one "quiet" work floor and one chatting floor in the event space.

Food

Breakfast: Students are responsible for their own breakfasts. There is a Wegmans grocery store 20 minutes by car, and we encourage students to do a shop on their way to their event on the first day. There is a local grocery store in Thurmont, MD that delivers through Instacart as well.

Lunch: Lunch will be served to the group on two days. On the other three days, we will provide the food, and groups of students will take turns preparing the meal with faculty members. This experience is optional, but it is a blast and a great way to bond with faculty.

Dinner: Dinner will be catered each night.

Snacks, beverages, and wine will be provided each day as well.

Refund & Payment Policies:

There is a $500 non-refundable deposit. Tuition must be paid in full by August 30, 2025. Students who register after August 30 must pay in full when they sign up.
LAST MINUTE ILLNESS POLICY: As of 2023, there will be no exceptions to our refund policy for students who become ill at the last minute. Students will also be able to schedule one-on-one meetings with faculty at an agreed upon date. Students will be given access to previously recorded workshops from our library.

PLEASE NOTE: We continue to give tremendous thought to your health and safety as well as the health and safety of our staff and instructors. We have chosen a location with a great deal of outdoor space, but we recognize that it is November. For the safety of our instructors and attendees, we ask everyone to exercise caution for the two weeks prior to our workshop.

Workshop Size

A minimum of 13 students a maximum of 16.

Maryland Retreat with Gary Schmidt, Kathryn Erskine, Karen Boss & special guest Patricia Lee Gauch