A Personalized, Guided Retreat to Advance Your Book Project
Completing a book—whether it’s your first or your fifth—delivers more than the satisfaction of what’s written on the page. It changes your sense of who you are and what’s possible. If you are ready to break through barriers and complete a new book-length project, consider The Writehold.
You: Serious about completing a book and stuck at any stage, from seed to revision
Me: An award-winning author with more than 30 years’ editing and teaching experience
The Process
- You email me at info@moraleswrites.com and fill out a short questionnaire about your book-to-be.
- We have a video call to get to know each other and decide if it’s a fit.
- If we decide to work together, you send me what you’ve written a month in advance. I mark it up with my thoughts.
- You travel to my lovely little town in rural SW Wisconsin and book a place to stay that suits you.
- We meet every day for four days and I monitor your work. I help keep you on task, offer you mini assignments to get over stuck places, remain on call to provide page reviews and advice, and help you maintain your momentum.
- Before you leave, we will develop a schedule for getting the rest of the book done and set up to five 20-minute check-ins in the coming months.
- You go home and get your book done—better.
Your Book Doula
I was a birth doula years ago. I loved supporting laboring parents through hard moments and providing the comforts that helped them persevere. The hours were long, but in many ways, I was built for that job.
Just like giving birth, you could write a book all alone. And just like giving birth, the process of bringing a book to light goes more smoothly with the presence and encouragement of a skilled companion. Imagine the powers of motivation and insight you can harness through focused time with an expert helper who is as invested in your success as you are.
The Writehold honors your project with the time and attention it deserves. By slowing down and immersing deeply in your manuscript, you can reground in the “why” of the project and find new and better “hows”.
We will spend several hours a day together, problem solving and producing. I’ll help you stay on task, refocus, and find fresh approaches. In these days of constant claims to your attention, our presence together creates real accountability, person to person.
Of course, it can’t be all writing, all the time. This little corner of the world offers many delights: beautiful countryside full of hiking trails and trout streams, restaurants serving delicious farm-fresh meals and locally roasted coffee, and a gentle, rural pace, allowing you the spaciousness to daydream and meander in your hours away from the desk.
Costs and Opportunities
My fee for reading/markup of your manuscript-to-date, four transformative days of insight, education, and accountability, and five 20-minute check-in calls: $3,250 (discounted rate for sessions reserved by 31 May 2026 and completed by 31 December 2026). Payment plans available at no additional cost.
Other costs to consider: Travel to Viroqua, Wis.; housing in/near town for four nights; groceries and/or meals out. Local housing options include everything from low-cost camping to motels to a fancy boutique hotel.
It’s a whole lot cheaper than an MFA and, unlike a crowded workshop with focus spread across a dozen writers, you get one-on-one attention and personalized problem solving to address your specific concerns. The internal tools you develop—whether of craft or resilience or both—will be transformative across a lifetime of writing.
(If you’d like a less intensive way to work with me, I also do developmental editing remotely, for 4 cents per word. Use the contact form to connect.)
Scholarships
For every 8 paid Writehold retreats I do, I will offer 1 free retreat to someone without the financial resources to do this work together. Priority will be given to writers who do not come from intergenerational wealth. I will waive my fees and help direct writers to low-priced accommodations and local resources. Please use my contact form to send me a request.