WRITE BY THE LAKE 2024: THE DETAILS

Sunrise over Lake Atitlan, the site of Joyce's WRITE BY THE LAKE workshop.

Having known the good fortune of spending time in the rare tranquility and incomparable beauty of Lake Atitlan, Joyce set out to find a way of sharing the gift of the place she loves with others who have been struggling with the challenges, losses and isolation of the past few years. She wanted other women to discover the sense of peace and well-being, gratitude and simple happiness that comes from waking up to hear the birds, diving into the lake, doing a sun salutation or two facing the volcano, sharing coffee with a new friend, or just sitting at a quiet desk, looking out at the water to tell a story.

As always when she teaches, Joyce will be offering close, detailed guidance to each writer, informed by fifty years of her own writing and publishing life, and a quarter century of teaching—both in the writing circle with the group and in private one-on-one conferences, as well as daily craft talks and evening readings around the fire.

Now more than ever, Joyce and her experienced local team recognize the need for care and comfort and recognition of each participant’s particular need to renew herself, and for those who may have lost sight of hopefulness or joy, a chance to reclaim it.

All meals will be healthy and delicious, prepared by our outstanding local chef, Rosa Navichoc Chac and served on the property — on Joyce’s patio overlooking the lake and volcano, or in the garden. Each writer will be gifted a Very Important Writer comfort package along with a private one-hour professional massage on the property. In every way we can think of, we want to make each writer feel wonderfully well-cared-for. You will be.

Here’s the most important goal of the retreat week: that every single guest emerge not only a stronger and more authentic writer, but also, that each of the writers who make the trip to spend time at the lake with Joyce will have found, in this little piece of paradise, a way to reconnect with herself, her work, and her peace of mind—and to connect for the first time with a community of fellow writers who will continue to support each other’s work and lives, years after the end of the retreat.

Over the twenty years Joyce has been running her annual Write by the Lake workshops, she has worked with several hundred writers, some of whom returned to work with her at the lake multiple times. Some have published books. Many discovered the sense of liberation and well-being that comes from having told a story that may have haunted them all their lives. More than a few have called their time at Write by the Lake “one of the most memorable of my life.”