Retreats Archives - Centauri Arts

Why join our creative writing retreat in Costa Rica? Here’s six reasons!

Serenity in Nature… While you Write Costa Rica is the perfect place to unwind and get creative, inspired by the wonders of nature. At our boutique hotel just outside Quepos, you’ll be greeted by toucans in the morning and squirrel monkeys in the evening. You’ll breathe in the lush rainforest air one moment, and the soft ocean breeze the next. Work on your novel, memoir, poetry, short story or writing fragments at one of the hotel’s lookout points, on the beach, in a café at the marina, or in the little coffee shop overlooking the pool. Writing Retreats Are Great for Solo Travellers! If you hope to travel alone, and you love writing (or want to try it) then a creative writing retreat is the [...]

April 10th, 2024|Retreats, writing holiday, writing retreats|

Join us for our Next Creative Writing Retreat to Costa Rica!

Our next Costa Rica Writing Retreat (Saturday 19th to Saturday 26th January 2025) is held in partnership with a boutique hotel in Quepos, just 2.5 hours south of the international airport at San Jose. Like all our retreat, it’s suitable for beginner and experienced writers of fiction, poetry and memoir! About Our Hotel Our base for this trip is Las Cascadas Boutique Hotel - https://www.lascascadasthefalls.com/. Located in rainforest, Las Cascadas is just a 5 minute walk from the new marina at Quepos, which has a wealth of restaurants and cafes overlooking the ocean. Our writers stay in private rooms within gorgeously-decorated cottages. Toucans and squirrel monkeys are frequent visitors, and there is even a scarlet macaw nest on site! Morning writing workshops take place on [...]

March 25th, 2024|Retreats, writing holiday, writing retreats|

Spotlight on our Mexican Creative Writing Retreat Destination: Luz en Yucatan, Merida!

A Creative Writing Retreat in Mexico requires a very special location. It must be somewhere relaxing, inspiring, with a wonderful ambience. It should be somewhere with ample nooks and crannies for writers to relax and write. It should have great food, appealing cocktails (!!) and staff who know how to make you feel at home. It should be quiet enough that creative writing workshops can take place in the right atmosphere, yet close enough to interesting places, so our writers can explore in the afternoons. Luz en Yucatan, the base for our creative writing retreats in Mexico, has all these things. Merida: The Perfect Location for a Creative Writing Retreat Luz en Yucatan is located in the heart of the lovely city of Merida, just [...]

January 7th, 2024|Retreats|

Our Creative Writing Retreats – The Delights of Merida!

Our next Mexico Creative Writing Retreat in 2024 will once again be held in the beautiful Yucatecan city of Merida. In addition to the morning creative writing workshops (which are appropriate to writers of poetry, memoir, short fiction and novels), participants will have the opportunity to sightsee in and around this glorious city. Sightseeing in Merida This vibrant city is full of great sights: museums, plazas, gorgeous colonial mansions and art galleries. There are also weekly festivals held in the evenings that include dancing, craft stalls, live music and even a traditional Mayan ball game played with a ball of fire! Check out this blog for additional informatio on the sights of Merida: https://www.roamingaroundtheworld.com/top-5-things-to-do-in-merida-mexico/ Another terrific resource for travellers is the online magazine, Yucatan [...]

December 21st, 2023|Retreats, writing holiday, writing retreats|

Creative Writing Retreats: Magical Moments in Merida!

Just about every day on our creative writing retreats is special – after all, retreats are not only a chance to learn, they are also full of new experiences and great memories. Writing retreats are holidays, too! But there are some days so magnificent that they take your breath away and feed your soul. Yesterday on our Mexico Creative Writing Retreat was one of those days. Writing Workshop We began in the morning with a workshop on five act structure. I hadn’t expected this to be quite so meaningful to so many of our writers, but we have several people here with ideas for novels and memoirs, or with books-in-progress that have stalled on the way. We ended with two terrific writers sharing their [...]

December 6th, 2023|Retreats, writing holiday, writing retreats|

Elmore Leonard: 10 Rules Of Writing

In July 2001, the crime fiction writer Elmore Leonard wrote a short piece for The New York Times on his ten rules for writing. This was eventually adapted into a book. I’ve shared his rules many times with writers on our retreats, so I thought it might be useful to outline them here. In the preface to his book, Leonard says: These are rules I’ve picked up along the way to help me remain invisible when I’m writing; to help me show rather than tell what’s taking place in the story. Now, here are his rules: Never open a book with weather. If it’s only to create atmosphere, and not a character’s reaction to the weather, you don’t want to go on too long. The [...]

March 14th, 2023|Retreats, Writing Advice|

An MFA in Creative Writing: Is It Worth It?

Read the bios of a dozen new fiction writers, and the chances are good that at least half will list among their credentials an MFA in Creative Writing. I completed my own MFA in Creative Writing through the University of British Columbia, and I’m often asked by my writing students: is a Masters in Creative Writing essential, if you want to see your work in print? Arguments Against an MFA in Creative Writing A Masters Degree is expensive and some writers might argue it would eat into the limited time they have available for writing. Many MFAs also require you to diversify in ways you may not wish to. Why take a course in poetry, screenwriting or memoir, if what you want to do is [...]

January 23rd, 2023|Retreats, Writing Advice, writing retreats|

Historical Fiction Prompts for Writers

In our last blog, we looked at how online resources have transformed a writer's research process. So let's explore this idea with a creative writing prompt. Writing Prompt: Historical Fiction Write down a daily task or hobby that interests you. Now, choose a specific historic period and location. Come up with a close approximation of your interest that may fit with the period and location. Write down what you already think you know about that activity. Now, set a timer. Give yourself 15 minutes to research that specific activity online. Read everything you can about it. Look at illustrations. Become an expert in something very precise. An example for this writing prompt: Present day interest: racing cars Historic period/location: Roman Empire Approximation: Chariot racing; how [...]

January 23rd, 2023|Resources, Retreats, Writing Advice, Writing Prompts, Writing Resources, writing retreats|

The Benefits of a Creative Writing Retreat

I've attended many Creative Writing retreats over the years. A writing retreat in a fishing village in Mexico. Another on the wind-swept moors in Devon, England. Retreats in Scotland and Wales. I've also run dozens of retreats myself. Our creative writing retreat centre in Canada hosted more than 100 writers, and these days, we run creative writing retreats in Costa Rica: and a new writing retreat in Mexico. Why Attend a Creative Writing Retreat? Writers rarely have the opportunity to focus exclusively on writing. We're spouses, parents, sons, daughters, home owners, and whatever it is we do for a living. We may want to write a novel, complete a memoir, write poetry or finish a screenplay, but life pulls us in other directions. Attending [...]

January 6th, 2023|Retreats, writing holiday, writing retreats|

Poem from the Creative Writing Retreat to Merida, Mexico.

At the end of our creative writing retreat, we created a list poem together, reflecting our shared experience over the course of the week. Here is the poem, created by Shay, Nichol, John, Jeffrey, Virginia, Betsy, Sara, Patricia and Julie: Flying in the Depths The air is charged with creativity: we are writing stories to the sound of water falling and our tender words are received like party guests. Hearts pound as wooden steps descend into darkness revealing magical, healing waters. Ancient stones, hot under the eternal sun, rise improbably from stubbled ground. Unpronounceable ruins on a day when rabbits Hop. Hop. Hop. The pink line stretching far across the lake turns into hundreds of flamingos. Poems for Pacheco’s paintings in a plaza pulsing with [...]

December 23rd, 2022|Retreats|