2011 Retreat Group Photo (The first year of Session 2!)
"Get yer Rainforest Swag here!"
"Get yer Rainforest Swag here!"
2025 Schedule
SCROLL DOWN TO FIND YOUR SESSION
SESSION ONE:
Wednesday, February 19
5:00 pm -- Retreat Opens
The retreat “officially” opens now. Some of you will probably arrive earlier than this, and I can’t guarantee the writing space will be available earlier.
7:00 pm -- Registration Opens: Meet & Greet & Write
Or maybe a little earlier than this. Participants can start picking up badges and retreat information at this time in the lounge, either from me or Debora Reinert. The “word count tally board” will be in a designated spot in the lounge once again this year. Get ready for your chance to win prizes! The official “start” time for keeping track starts as soon as you have your registration badge! Also, don’t forget to vote for this year’s Rainforest Inspirational Award recipient! If you haven’t already been in the lounge meeting and greeting, this is a good time. Or try a writing session. This is all very informal.
For those of you who like to burn the late-night oil and write in a community setting, you’ll be able to hang out here and write for as long as you’d like. Badges required. This repeats Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.
10:00 pm -- Book table opens. The first session always takes longer to get things set up, but it’ll be ready for business before the night is through. (For many of you Early Bird writers, the table will magically appear the next day.) Many of the books come to Rainforest courtesy of our bookseller Kathmandu Books (Mark Wingenfeld, proprietor). Other books are on consignment (Kathmandu takes a 20% consignment.) Writers, bring those books to the lounge as early as you can and get an accounting sheet filled out. Attendees, do bring some green or plastic and support the independent bookseller and your great presenters! From this point through the end of the retreat, the book table will be open whenever you can find Debora Reinert or myself. You can also put books on hold to pay later when Patrick’s around for credit card orders. Don’t forget to track down fellow writers to get your books signed!
Thursday, February 20
6:00 am -- Early Bird Writers: The Salmon House Restaurant
You can even come in earlier if you’re that kind of crazy! It’s the early morning equivalent of the Night Owls. Get your coffee (available in the restaurant section, but usually Debora or Bob will have some hot coffee in thermoses ready on the lounge bar) and come on in and write. Badges required. You can also be in the restaurant area to write if you wish. It is an extension of the lounge and the only eating of meals in there during the early part of the day will be the breakfasts that the resort puts on for you exclusively. (This repeats Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings.) For those writers coming in today, pick up your badges and retreat information just about any time.
9:00 am – Pancake Breakfast! Cabin 6
The restaurant is closed to local traffic, but the Rainforest Writers Village wants to treat you to a good first meal of the day each day of the retreat, complimentary. Today, the retreat director will throw some pancakes on the grill and dish out some fruit, hard-boiled eggs, and other goodies in Cabin 6. Come in anytime between 9:00 and 10:00.
11:00 am -- Discussion: “Four Points of View” The Salmon House Restaurant
Presented by Maureen McHugh. It was a dark and stormy night. A shot rang out! Who is say 'it was a dark and stormy night'? The point of view character? Are they sitting around the Victorian mansion thinking 'It's a dark and stormy night. It's still a dark and stormy. Still dark and stormy.' Fun exercises exploring p.o.v. and a sneaky way to talk about narration and the voice of a piece.
This lunch is on your own, but we'll have some sandwich fixings and light munchies in Cabin #6 for those of you who want to pick up some food between now and 1 pm. There are a few “assembly” areas for putting together sandwiches, and you can pick up other food from the table and eat in the cabin, outside, or to your own room/cabin. There are also food items you can buy in the store across the street, and other restaurants within driving distance.
1:00 pm – Community Writing continues in the Lounge
Or maybe you skipped lunch and kept on writing! You can continue to write in there until about an hour before the restaurant opens for dinner.
6:00 pm -- Group Dinner in the Salmon House Restaurant
All participants, let’s meet and eat in the restaurant for a big group dinner! It’s fun to have a big group of us in one spot chowing down. We do this on this particular night and time so the restaurant staff is ready for us. On this Thursday only, since the Lounge will be open to the public, all attending writers won't be able to be in there from 4 pm to 6 pm (and, of course, until after dinner). The trade-off will be that writers can be in the restaurant part (The Salmon House) if they want to write from 4-6 pm. The restaurant part will be held for our group only, and will not be used for seating for the public, and if you want to be in the restaurant working before the group dinner, you can! But, before the group dinner begins, computers and other things will have to be put away, because once we are seated at our tables, they may need the bottom area of the restaurant for more public seating. Also, it will be okay for writers to be in the bar section of the lounge for drinks and chat during that 4-6 pm time.
Friday, February 21
9:00 am -- Guest Continental Breakfast: Salmon House Restaurant
The restaurant will open just for us and provide breakfast! It’s complimentary. It'll be yummy.
11:00 am -- Discussion: “Half-way Plotting” Rainforest Restaurant
Presented by Nancy Kress. You are neither an outliner nor a pantser, but there is a novel you want to write, if only you knew in what direction to take it. Is there some way to construct a plot that is neither meticulously thought through nor mysteriously vague in your mind? And how do you do that? Nancy Kress will discuss one possible approach.
3:00-8:00 pm -- Dinner on your own.
9:00 pm or so -- Group Readings: Salmon House Restaurant
When the restaurant closes, and they’ve cleared the seating area, it is open for retreat members. Here's your chance to share with other attendees and guests the material you've written so far during the retreat or share other work in progress. Note: This event is very informal and doesn’t always happen. It all depends on the writers in each session, and who might want to share. If that’s you, be proactive and check with other attendees who might be interested. Or show up just ahead of the scheduled time and see who’s in.
Saturday, February 22
9:00 am -- Group Breakfast: The Salmon House Restaurant (Complimentary)
11:00 am -- Discussion: “The Blue Paper Trick and Other Creativity Hacks” The Salmon House Restaurant
Presented by Daryl Gregory. The blank page is terrifying. Daryl shares a collection of writing hacks that have gotten him writing when he couldn't start or couldn't keep going. Come prepared to share your own.
Join Debora Reinert and Chuck Walbridge, who will host a tasty lunch. This happens from the porch of Cabin 18. We’ll prep everything in #18 and be ready to feed you! There will be some space in #18 to eat if you wish, or across the way in Cabin #6, or wherever you prefer. Enjoy some amazing soups and some to-die-for grilled cheese sandwiches. We serve the soup in a nice cozy cup to make it super convenient. The lunch is complimentary and guaranteed delicious.
3:00-8:00 pm -- Dinner on your own.
8:00 pm -– Night Owl Writers: Rainforest Lounge
Remember that it is writers only, starting at this time.
9:00 pm -- Cabin Party: Cabin #6
(Or sooner!) The Saturday night Cabin Party is a Rainforest retreat institution! This would be BYOB for not-so-light drinks. Extra munchies can be brought too.
Sunday, February 23
9:00 am -- Breakfast: The Salmon House Restaurant.
11:00 am -- Farewell Fling & Awards: Rainforest Lounge.
After you’ve had your breakfast and last chance for writing and adding to that word count, we’ll meet here to say goodbye and show our appreciation to our attendees and honored presenters. We’ll check that biggest winners from the word count board (guaranteed a prize!) and hand out the Rainforest Writers Inspiration Award. We’ll close it all out with a drawing for neat door prizes.
Drive home safely!!
- Note: Writers attending this year’s retreats should be vaccinated. If there are any difficulties or exceptions with this, please contact the retreat director. Please also Covid test prior to coming to the retreat. Masks are optional in the community writing spaces (lounge and restaurant). Writing areas are open to the public or resort workers during different times of the day. Please be cognizant of fellow attendees who choose one way or the other, and practice social distancing, when possible, for the comfort of others. Have masks with you, too. If it is not safe for you while masked when other writers are not masked, inside or out, adjust your writing space accordingly. Obviously that would mean more in-room writing than writing in the community writing spaces.
- Below are the planned main events for the 2025 Retreat. Repeated daily events are not listed each day, such as Night Owl and Early Bird sessions, Community Writing times, and so on.
- Remember: If you’re writing in the lounge, there should be no loud talk or sustained merriment. If you think you’ll be having an extended conversation with someone, please take it outside, or into the restaurant area (unless people are writing in there, too). Attendees are trying to concentrate and write.
- No outside alcohol can be brought into the lounge/restaurant area.
- The Rainforest Writers Inspirational Award is voted on by attendees the first three days of the retreat. You can cast your ballot for any attendee. The ballots and ballot box will be in a designated location in Cabin #6. The Award comes with a woodcut trophy/plaque and a cash stipend.
SCROLL DOWN TO FIND YOUR SESSION
SESSION ONE:
Wednesday, February 19
5:00 pm -- Retreat Opens
The retreat “officially” opens now. Some of you will probably arrive earlier than this, and I can’t guarantee the writing space will be available earlier.
7:00 pm -- Registration Opens: Meet & Greet & Write
Or maybe a little earlier than this. Participants can start picking up badges and retreat information at this time in the lounge, either from me or Debora Reinert. The “word count tally board” will be in a designated spot in the lounge once again this year. Get ready for your chance to win prizes! The official “start” time for keeping track starts as soon as you have your registration badge! Also, don’t forget to vote for this year’s Rainforest Inspirational Award recipient! If you haven’t already been in the lounge meeting and greeting, this is a good time. Or try a writing session. This is all very informal.
- The restaurant closes at 8 p.m. Since the lounge is closed at this time to all locals and tourists, we’ll have the place to ourselves. You can mingle with other late-night writers, but at this point ,the night writers get a quiet room. Please wear your badges.
For those of you who like to burn the late-night oil and write in a community setting, you’ll be able to hang out here and write for as long as you’d like. Badges required. This repeats Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.
10:00 pm -- Book table opens. The first session always takes longer to get things set up, but it’ll be ready for business before the night is through. (For many of you Early Bird writers, the table will magically appear the next day.) Many of the books come to Rainforest courtesy of our bookseller Kathmandu Books (Mark Wingenfeld, proprietor). Other books are on consignment (Kathmandu takes a 20% consignment.) Writers, bring those books to the lounge as early as you can and get an accounting sheet filled out. Attendees, do bring some green or plastic and support the independent bookseller and your great presenters! From this point through the end of the retreat, the book table will be open whenever you can find Debora Reinert or myself. You can also put books on hold to pay later when Patrick’s around for credit card orders. Don’t forget to track down fellow writers to get your books signed!
Thursday, February 20
6:00 am -- Early Bird Writers: The Salmon House Restaurant
You can even come in earlier if you’re that kind of crazy! It’s the early morning equivalent of the Night Owls. Get your coffee (available in the restaurant section, but usually Debora or Bob will have some hot coffee in thermoses ready on the lounge bar) and come on in and write. Badges required. You can also be in the restaurant area to write if you wish. It is an extension of the lounge and the only eating of meals in there during the early part of the day will be the breakfasts that the resort puts on for you exclusively. (This repeats Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings.) For those writers coming in today, pick up your badges and retreat information just about any time.
9:00 am – Pancake Breakfast! Cabin 6
The restaurant is closed to local traffic, but the Rainforest Writers Village wants to treat you to a good first meal of the day each day of the retreat, complimentary. Today, the retreat director will throw some pancakes on the grill and dish out some fruit, hard-boiled eggs, and other goodies in Cabin 6. Come in anytime between 9:00 and 10:00.
11:00 am -- Discussion: “Four Points of View” The Salmon House Restaurant
Presented by Maureen McHugh. It was a dark and stormy night. A shot rang out! Who is say 'it was a dark and stormy night'? The point of view character? Are they sitting around the Victorian mansion thinking 'It's a dark and stormy night. It's still a dark and stormy. Still dark and stormy.' Fun exercises exploring p.o.v. and a sneaky way to talk about narration and the voice of a piece.
- With her groundbreaking novel, China Mountain Zhang, Maureen F. McHugh established herself as one of the decade's best science fiction writers. She is the winner of the James Tiptree, Jr. Memorial Award, the Lambda Literary Award, the Locus Award for Best First Novel, and a Hugo and Nebula Award nominee.
This lunch is on your own, but we'll have some sandwich fixings and light munchies in Cabin #6 for those of you who want to pick up some food between now and 1 pm. There are a few “assembly” areas for putting together sandwiches, and you can pick up other food from the table and eat in the cabin, outside, or to your own room/cabin. There are also food items you can buy in the store across the street, and other restaurants within driving distance.
1:00 pm – Community Writing continues in the Lounge
Or maybe you skipped lunch and kept on writing! You can continue to write in there until about an hour before the restaurant opens for dinner.
6:00 pm -- Group Dinner in the Salmon House Restaurant
All participants, let’s meet and eat in the restaurant for a big group dinner! It’s fun to have a big group of us in one spot chowing down. We do this on this particular night and time so the restaurant staff is ready for us. On this Thursday only, since the Lounge will be open to the public, all attending writers won't be able to be in there from 4 pm to 6 pm (and, of course, until after dinner). The trade-off will be that writers can be in the restaurant part (The Salmon House) if they want to write from 4-6 pm. The restaurant part will be held for our group only, and will not be used for seating for the public, and if you want to be in the restaurant working before the group dinner, you can! But, before the group dinner begins, computers and other things will have to be put away, because once we are seated at our tables, they may need the bottom area of the restaurant for more public seating. Also, it will be okay for writers to be in the bar section of the lounge for drinks and chat during that 4-6 pm time.
- Fri-Sat nights the restaurant is open normally for us from 3 pm – 8 pm daily for dinner. We made the decision to leave dinner to you because we wanted to give you to support our sponsors, the Rainforest Resort Village. Meals from their restaurant are reasonably priced and quite tasty! Other restaurants are in the area, however, including the Roosevelt Room at the Lake Quinault Lodge, one mile away, and a few other options in Amanda Park at the foot of the lake.
Friday, February 21
9:00 am -- Guest Continental Breakfast: Salmon House Restaurant
The restaurant will open just for us and provide breakfast! It’s complimentary. It'll be yummy.
11:00 am -- Discussion: “Half-way Plotting” Rainforest Restaurant
Presented by Nancy Kress. You are neither an outliner nor a pantser, but there is a novel you want to write, if only you knew in what direction to take it. Is there some way to construct a plot that is neither meticulously thought through nor mysteriously vague in your mind? And how do you do that? Nancy Kress will discuss one possible approach.
- Nancy Kress is the author of thirty-three books, including twenty-six novels, four collections of short stories, and three books on writing. Her work has won six Nebulas, two Hugos, a Sturgeon, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, and has been translated into two dozen languages, including Klingon. In addition to writing, Kress often teaches at various venues around the country and abroad, including a visiting lectureship at the University of Leipzig, a 2017 writing class in Beijing, and the annual intensive workshop Taos Toolbox, which she taught with Walter Jon Williams.
3:00-8:00 pm -- Dinner on your own.
9:00 pm or so -- Group Readings: Salmon House Restaurant
When the restaurant closes, and they’ve cleared the seating area, it is open for retreat members. Here's your chance to share with other attendees and guests the material you've written so far during the retreat or share other work in progress. Note: This event is very informal and doesn’t always happen. It all depends on the writers in each session, and who might want to share. If that’s you, be proactive and check with other attendees who might be interested. Or show up just ahead of the scheduled time and see who’s in.
Saturday, February 22
9:00 am -- Group Breakfast: The Salmon House Restaurant (Complimentary)
11:00 am -- Discussion: “The Blue Paper Trick and Other Creativity Hacks” The Salmon House Restaurant
Presented by Daryl Gregory. The blank page is terrifying. Daryl shares a collection of writing hacks that have gotten him writing when he couldn't start or couldn't keep going. Come prepared to share your own.
- Daryl Gregory’s novels and short stories have been translated into a dozen languages and have won multiple awards, including the World Fantasy and Shirley Jackson awards, and have been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, Edgar, Locus, Lambda, and Sturgeon awards. His new novel When We Were Real (Saga Press) debuts this April. The novel Revelator (Knopf) and the novella The Album of Dr. Moreau (tor.com) both appeared in 2021. His eight other books include Spoonbenders, Afterparty, Pandemonium, We Are All Completely Fine, and the collection Unpossible and Other Stories.
Join Debora Reinert and Chuck Walbridge, who will host a tasty lunch. This happens from the porch of Cabin 18. We’ll prep everything in #18 and be ready to feed you! There will be some space in #18 to eat if you wish, or across the way in Cabin #6, or wherever you prefer. Enjoy some amazing soups and some to-die-for grilled cheese sandwiches. We serve the soup in a nice cozy cup to make it super convenient. The lunch is complimentary and guaranteed delicious.
3:00-8:00 pm -- Dinner on your own.
8:00 pm -– Night Owl Writers: Rainforest Lounge
Remember that it is writers only, starting at this time.
9:00 pm -- Cabin Party: Cabin #6
(Or sooner!) The Saturday night Cabin Party is a Rainforest retreat institution! This would be BYOB for not-so-light drinks. Extra munchies can be brought too.
- Remember that after-hours celebrating or alcoholic drinks in the lounge are not permitted, and Night Owl writers still have the right-of-way in there for as long as they want.
Sunday, February 23
9:00 am -- Breakfast: The Salmon House Restaurant.
11:00 am -- Farewell Fling & Awards: Rainforest Lounge.
After you’ve had your breakfast and last chance for writing and adding to that word count, we’ll meet here to say goodbye and show our appreciation to our attendees and honored presenters. We’ll check that biggest winners from the word count board (guaranteed a prize!) and hand out the Rainforest Writers Inspiration Award. We’ll close it all out with a drawing for neat door prizes.
- This is also your last chance at the book table, before the Fling, and even after we’re done. If your books are there on consignment, you’ll settle up with Debora, and also check with us if Kathmandu Books has any books left on the table that you can sign.
Drive home safely!!
SESSION TWO:
Wednesday, February 26
5:00 pm -- Retreat Opens
The retreat “officially” opens now. Some of you will probably arrive earlier than this, and I can’t guarantee the writing space will be available earlier.
7:00 pm -- Registration Opens: Meet & Greet & Write
Or maybe a little earlier than this. Participants can start picking up badges and retreat information at this time in the lounge, either from me or Debora Reinert. The “word count tally board” will be in a designated spot in the lounge once again this year. Get ready for your chance to win prizes! The official “start” time for keeping track starts as soon as you have your registration badge! Also, don’t forget to vote for this year’s Rainforest Inspirational Award recipient! If you haven’t already been in the lounge meeting and greeting, this is a good time. Or try a writing session. This is all very informal.
For those of you who like to burn the late-night oil and write in a community setting, you’ll be able to hang out here and write for as long as you’d like. Badges required. This repeats Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.
10:00 pm -- Book table opens. It’ll be ready for business before the night is through. (For many of you Early Bird writers, the table will be ready for you the next day.) Many of the books come to Rainforest courtesy of our bookseller Kathmandu Books (Mark Wingenfeld, proprietor). Other books are on consignment (Kathmandu takes a 20% consignment.) Writers, bring those books to the lounge as early as you can and get an accounting sheet filled out. Attendees, do bring some green or plastic and support the independent bookseller and your great presenters! From this point through the end of the retreat, the book table will be open whenever you can find Debora Reinert or myself. You can also put books on hold to pay later when Patrick’s around for credit card orders. Don’t forget to track down fellow writers to get your books signed!
Thursday, February 27
6:00 am -- Early Bird Writers: The Salmon House Restaurant
You can even come in earlier if you’re that kind of crazy! It’s the early morning equivalent of the Night Owls. Get your coffee (available in the restaurant section, but usually Debora will have some hot coffee in thermoses ready on the lounge bar) and come on in and write. Badges required. You can also be in the restaurant area to write if you wish. It is an extension of the lounge and the only eating of meals in there during the early part of the day will be the breakfasts that the resort puts on for you exclusively. (This repeats Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings.) For those writers coming in today, pick up your badges and retreat information just about any time.
9:00 am – Pancake Breakfast! Cabin 6
The restaurant is closed to local traffic, but the Rainforest Writers Village wants to treat you to a good first meal of the day each day of the retreat, complimentary. Today, the retreat director will throw some pancakes on the grill and dish out some fruit, hard-boiled eggs, and other goodies in Cabin 6. Come in anytime between 9:00 and 10:00.
11:00 am -- Discussion: “Windows into Point of View” The Salmon House Restaurant
Presented by David Levine. When you select a point of view (or more than one) for a story, you are controlling the window through which the reader perceives the action. Point of view is more than just first, second, or third person, and the point of view character is not necessarily the main character or the protagonist. The viewpoint may be close or distant in terms of time, space, and emotion; it may see characters' thoughts and emotions or it may not. It may be trustworthy or untrustworthy. It may have an attitude, an agenda, and/or a distinctive voice, or it may be neutral. Let's talk about how you can use point of view to develop characters, build the world, and deepen the reader's involvement with the plot.
This lunch is on your own, but we'll have some sandwich fixings and light munchies in Cabin #6 for those of you who want to pick up some food between now and 1 pm. There are a few “assembly” areas for putting together sandwiches, and you can pick up other food from the table and eat in the cabin, outside, or to your own room/cabin. There are also food items you can buy in the store across the street, and other restaurants within driving distance.
1:00 pm – Community Writing continues in the Lounge
Or maybe you skipped lunch and kept on writing! You can continue to write in there until about an hour before the restaurant opens for dinner.
6:00 pm -- Group Dinner in the Salmon House Restaurant
All participants, let’s meet and eat in the restaurant for a big group dinner! It’s fun to have a big group of us in one spot chowing down. We do this on this particular night and time so the restaurant staff is ready for us. On this Thursday only, since the Lounge will be open to the public, all attending writers won't be able to be in there from 4 pm to 6 pm (and, of course, until after dinner). The trade-off will be that writers can be in the restaurant part (The Salmon House) if they want to write from 4-6 pm. The restaurant part will be held for our group only, and will not be used for seating for the public, and if you want to be in the restaurant working before the group dinner, you can! But, before the group dinner begins, computers and other things will have to be put away, because once we are seated at our tables, they may need the bottom area of the restaurant for more public seating. Also, it will be okay for writers to be in the bar section of the lounge for drinks and chat during that 4-6 pm time.
Done with dinner? Need an excuse to have some dessert? Thanks to Jeff Soesbe, Pie Night is back! Hope on over anytime after you finish dinner.
8:00 pm –- Night Owl Writers
Friday, February 28
9:00 am -- Guest Continental Breakfast: Salmon House Restaurant
The restaurant will open just for us and provide breakfast! It’s complimentary. It'll be yummy.
11:00 am -- Discussion: “Writing for RPGs: Is It Worth It to Roll the Dice?” Rainforest Restaurant
Presented by Patrick Hurley. As managing editor for Paizo, Patrick will talk about what it takes to write for tabletop RPGs and the difference between writing one's own fiction, writing for another IP, and also writing for an RPG. Turns out there's a decent amount of crossover between the RPG and SFF communities!
3:00-8:00 pm -- Dinner on your own.
9:00 pm or so -- Group Readings: Salmon House Restaurant
When the restaurant closes, and they’ve cleared the seating area, it is open for retreat members. Here's your chance to share with other attendees and guests the material you've written so far during the retreat or share other work in progress. Note: This event is very informal and doesn’t always happen. It all depends on the writers in each session, and who might want to share. If that’s you, be proactive and check with other attendees who might be interested. Or show up just ahead of the scheduled time and see who’s in.
Saturday, March 1
9:00 am -- Group Breakfast: The Salmon House Restaurant (Complimentary)
11:00 am -- Discussion: “How to Publish Yourself” The Salmon House Restaurant
Presented by Dale Ivan Smith. You don’t have to “go full indie author”, digital self-publishing is an option for any writer who has a well-written, well-edited novella or novel (or even a short story). Dale will lay out the fundamentals of self-publishing your fiction, from deciding to self-publish, using beta readers, working with editors, the different publishing platforms, book covers and descriptions, and discuss connecting with readers.
Join Debora Reinert and Chuck Walbridge, who will host a tasty lunch. This happens from the porch of Cabin 18. We’ll prep everything in #18 and be ready to feed you! There will be some space in #18 to eat if you wish, or across the way in Cabin #6, or wherever you prefer. Enjoy some amazing soups and some to-die-for grilled cheese sandwiches. We serve the soup in a nice cozy cup to make it super convenient. The lunch is complimentary and guaranteed delicious.
3:00-8:00 pm -- Dinner on your own.
8:00 pm -– Night Owl Writers: Rainforest Lounge
Remember that it is writers only, starting at this time.
9:00 pm -- Cabin Party: Cabin #6
(Or sooner!) The Saturday night Cabin Party is a Rainforest retreat institution! This would be BYOB for not-so-light drinks. Extra munchies can be brought too.
Sunday, March 2
9:00 am -- Breakfast: The Salmon House Restaurant.
11:00 am -- Farewell Fling & Awards: Rainforest Lounge.
After you’ve had your breakfast and last chance for writing and adding to that word count, we’ll meet here to say goodbye and show our appreciation to our attendees and honored presenters. We’ll check that biggest winners from the word count board (guaranteed a prize!) and hand out the Rainforest Writers Inspiration Award. We’ll close it all out with a drawing for neat door prizes.
Drive home safely!!
Wednesday, February 26
5:00 pm -- Retreat Opens
The retreat “officially” opens now. Some of you will probably arrive earlier than this, and I can’t guarantee the writing space will be available earlier.
7:00 pm -- Registration Opens: Meet & Greet & Write
Or maybe a little earlier than this. Participants can start picking up badges and retreat information at this time in the lounge, either from me or Debora Reinert. The “word count tally board” will be in a designated spot in the lounge once again this year. Get ready for your chance to win prizes! The official “start” time for keeping track starts as soon as you have your registration badge! Also, don’t forget to vote for this year’s Rainforest Inspirational Award recipient! If you haven’t already been in the lounge meeting and greeting, this is a good time. Or try a writing session. This is all very informal.
- The restaurant closes at 8 p.m. Since the lounge is closed at this time to all locals and tourists, we’ll have the place to ourselves. You can mingle with other late-night writers, but at this point ,the night writers get a quiet room. Please wear your badges.
For those of you who like to burn the late-night oil and write in a community setting, you’ll be able to hang out here and write for as long as you’d like. Badges required. This repeats Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.
10:00 pm -- Book table opens. It’ll be ready for business before the night is through. (For many of you Early Bird writers, the table will be ready for you the next day.) Many of the books come to Rainforest courtesy of our bookseller Kathmandu Books (Mark Wingenfeld, proprietor). Other books are on consignment (Kathmandu takes a 20% consignment.) Writers, bring those books to the lounge as early as you can and get an accounting sheet filled out. Attendees, do bring some green or plastic and support the independent bookseller and your great presenters! From this point through the end of the retreat, the book table will be open whenever you can find Debora Reinert or myself. You can also put books on hold to pay later when Patrick’s around for credit card orders. Don’t forget to track down fellow writers to get your books signed!
Thursday, February 27
6:00 am -- Early Bird Writers: The Salmon House Restaurant
You can even come in earlier if you’re that kind of crazy! It’s the early morning equivalent of the Night Owls. Get your coffee (available in the restaurant section, but usually Debora will have some hot coffee in thermoses ready on the lounge bar) and come on in and write. Badges required. You can also be in the restaurant area to write if you wish. It is an extension of the lounge and the only eating of meals in there during the early part of the day will be the breakfasts that the resort puts on for you exclusively. (This repeats Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings.) For those writers coming in today, pick up your badges and retreat information just about any time.
9:00 am – Pancake Breakfast! Cabin 6
The restaurant is closed to local traffic, but the Rainforest Writers Village wants to treat you to a good first meal of the day each day of the retreat, complimentary. Today, the retreat director will throw some pancakes on the grill and dish out some fruit, hard-boiled eggs, and other goodies in Cabin 6. Come in anytime between 9:00 and 10:00.
11:00 am -- Discussion: “Windows into Point of View” The Salmon House Restaurant
Presented by David Levine. When you select a point of view (or more than one) for a story, you are controlling the window through which the reader perceives the action. Point of view is more than just first, second, or third person, and the point of view character is not necessarily the main character or the protagonist. The viewpoint may be close or distant in terms of time, space, and emotion; it may see characters' thoughts and emotions or it may not. It may be trustworthy or untrustworthy. It may have an attitude, an agenda, and/or a distinctive voice, or it may be neutral. Let's talk about how you can use point of view to develop characters, build the world, and deepen the reader's involvement with the plot.
- David D. Levine is the author of space-opera caper novel The Kuiper Belt Job. His previous works include Andre Norton Nebula Award winning novel Arabella of Mars, sequels Arabella and the Battle of Venus and Arabella the Traitor of Mars, and over sixty SF and fantasy stories. His story “Tk’Tk’Tk” won the Hugo, and he has been shortlisted for awards including the Hugo, Nebula, Campbell, and Sturgeon. Stories have appeared in Asimov’s, Analog, Clarkesworld, F&SF, Tor.com, numerous Year’s Best anthologies, and his award-winning collection Space Magic.
This lunch is on your own, but we'll have some sandwich fixings and light munchies in Cabin #6 for those of you who want to pick up some food between now and 1 pm. There are a few “assembly” areas for putting together sandwiches, and you can pick up other food from the table and eat in the cabin, outside, or to your own room/cabin. There are also food items you can buy in the store across the street, and other restaurants within driving distance.
1:00 pm – Community Writing continues in the Lounge
Or maybe you skipped lunch and kept on writing! You can continue to write in there until about an hour before the restaurant opens for dinner.
6:00 pm -- Group Dinner in the Salmon House Restaurant
All participants, let’s meet and eat in the restaurant for a big group dinner! It’s fun to have a big group of us in one spot chowing down. We do this on this particular night and time so the restaurant staff is ready for us. On this Thursday only, since the Lounge will be open to the public, all attending writers won't be able to be in there from 4 pm to 6 pm (and, of course, until after dinner). The trade-off will be that writers can be in the restaurant part (The Salmon House) if they want to write from 4-6 pm. The restaurant part will be held for our group only, and will not be used for seating for the public, and if you want to be in the restaurant working before the group dinner, you can! But, before the group dinner begins, computers and other things will have to be put away, because once we are seated at our tables, they may need the bottom area of the restaurant for more public seating. Also, it will be okay for writers to be in the bar section of the lounge for drinks and chat during that 4-6 pm time.
- Fri-Sat nights the restaurant is open normally for us from 3 pm – 8 pm daily for dinner. We made the decision to leave dinner to you because we wanted to give you to support our sponsors, the Rainforest Resort Village. Meals from their restaurant are reasonably priced and quite tasty! Other restaurants are in the area, however, including the Roosevelt Room at the Lake Quinault Lodge, one mile away, and a few other options in Amanda Park at the foot of the lake.
Done with dinner? Need an excuse to have some dessert? Thanks to Jeff Soesbe, Pie Night is back! Hope on over anytime after you finish dinner.
8:00 pm –- Night Owl Writers
Friday, February 28
9:00 am -- Guest Continental Breakfast: Salmon House Restaurant
The restaurant will open just for us and provide breakfast! It’s complimentary. It'll be yummy.
11:00 am -- Discussion: “Writing for RPGs: Is It Worth It to Roll the Dice?” Rainforest Restaurant
Presented by Patrick Hurley. As managing editor for Paizo, Patrick will talk about what it takes to write for tabletop RPGs and the difference between writing one's own fiction, writing for another IP, and also writing for an RPG. Turns out there's a decent amount of crossover between the RPG and SFF communities!
- Patrick Hurley writes fantasy, science fiction, and horror, with fiction published in dozens of markets. He’s a member of SFWA, Codex, and the Dreamcrashers. In 2017, Patrick attended the Taos Toolbox Writer’s Workshop. He’s worked in publishing for over 15 years as a writer, editor, production coordinator, permission manager, and even designer. During that time he’s been fortunate to work on everything from classic literature in the Great Books Foundation to Star Wars, Marvel, Star Trek, and numerous Amazon Publishing titles. Patrick currently works as Managing Editor for Paizo.
3:00-8:00 pm -- Dinner on your own.
9:00 pm or so -- Group Readings: Salmon House Restaurant
When the restaurant closes, and they’ve cleared the seating area, it is open for retreat members. Here's your chance to share with other attendees and guests the material you've written so far during the retreat or share other work in progress. Note: This event is very informal and doesn’t always happen. It all depends on the writers in each session, and who might want to share. If that’s you, be proactive and check with other attendees who might be interested. Or show up just ahead of the scheduled time and see who’s in.
Saturday, March 1
9:00 am -- Group Breakfast: The Salmon House Restaurant (Complimentary)
11:00 am -- Discussion: “How to Publish Yourself” The Salmon House Restaurant
Presented by Dale Ivan Smith. You don’t have to “go full indie author”, digital self-publishing is an option for any writer who has a well-written, well-edited novella or novel (or even a short story). Dale will lay out the fundamentals of self-publishing your fiction, from deciding to self-publish, using beta readers, working with editors, the different publishing platforms, book covers and descriptions, and discuss connecting with readers.
- Dale Ivan Smith has had a life-long passion for reading, writing and libraries. In grade school, he snuck off one time too many during class to the school library, so naturally ended up working as a librarian. He retired in 2019, and now write novels full-time. He started out writing fantasy, and has a number of fantasy novels and stories published as “Dale Ivan Smith.” His longtime interest in mysteries became a full on passion in 2020, and he’s now working on his first cozy series, The Meg Booker Librarian Mysteries, set in the 1980s. One of his first readers is his wife LeAnn, who he met at an after school job while they were both in high school. They share a love of reading, jig saw puzzling, and mysteries.
Join Debora Reinert and Chuck Walbridge, who will host a tasty lunch. This happens from the porch of Cabin 18. We’ll prep everything in #18 and be ready to feed you! There will be some space in #18 to eat if you wish, or across the way in Cabin #6, or wherever you prefer. Enjoy some amazing soups and some to-die-for grilled cheese sandwiches. We serve the soup in a nice cozy cup to make it super convenient. The lunch is complimentary and guaranteed delicious.
3:00-8:00 pm -- Dinner on your own.
8:00 pm -– Night Owl Writers: Rainforest Lounge
Remember that it is writers only, starting at this time.
9:00 pm -- Cabin Party: Cabin #6
(Or sooner!) The Saturday night Cabin Party is a Rainforest retreat institution! This would be BYOB for not-so-light drinks. Extra munchies can be brought too.
- Remember that after-hours celebrating or alcoholic drinks in the lounge are not permitted, and Night Owl writers still have the right-of-way in there for as long as they want.
Sunday, March 2
9:00 am -- Breakfast: The Salmon House Restaurant.
11:00 am -- Farewell Fling & Awards: Rainforest Lounge.
After you’ve had your breakfast and last chance for writing and adding to that word count, we’ll meet here to say goodbye and show our appreciation to our attendees and honored presenters. We’ll check that biggest winners from the word count board (guaranteed a prize!) and hand out the Rainforest Writers Inspiration Award. We’ll close it all out with a drawing for neat door prizes.
- This is also your last chance at the book table, before the Fling, and even after we’re done. If your books are there on consignment, you’ll settle up with Debora, and also check with us if Kathmandu Books has any books left on the table that you can sign.
Drive home safely!!
SESSION THREE:
Wednesday, March 5
5:00 pm -- Retreat Opens
The retreat “officially” opens now. Some of you will probably arrive earlier than this, and I can’t guarantee the writing space will be available earlier.
7:00 pm -- Registration Opens: Meet & Greet & Write
Or maybe a little earlier than this. Participants can start picking up badges and retreat information at this time in the lounge, either from me or Debora Reinert. The “word count tally board” will be in a designated spot in the lounge once again this year. Get ready for your chance to win prizes! The official “start” time for keeping track starts as soon as you have your registration badge! Also, don’t forget to vote for this year’s Rainforest Inspirational Award recipient! If you haven’t already been in the lounge meeting and greeting, this is a good time. Or try a writing session. This is all very informal.
For those of you who like to burn the late-night oil and write in a community setting, you’ll be able to hang out here and write for as long as you’d like. Badges required. This repeats Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.
10:00 pm -- Book table opens. It’ll be ready for business before the night is through. (For many of you Early Bird writers, the table will be ready for you the next day.) Many of the books come to Rainforest courtesy of our bookseller Kathmandu Books (Mark Wingenfeld, proprietor). Other books are on consignment (Kathmandu takes a 20% consignment.) Writers, bring those books to the lounge as early as you can and get an accounting sheet filled out. Attendees, do bring some green or plastic and support the independent bookseller and your great presenters! From this point through the end of the retreat, the book table will be open whenever you can find Debora Reinert or myself. You can also put books on hold to pay later when Patrick’s around for credit card orders. Don’t forget to track down fellow writers to get your books signed!
Thursday, March 6
6:00 am -- Early Bird Writers: The Salmon House Restaurant
You can even come in earlier if you’re that kind of crazy! It’s the early morning equivalent of the Night Owls. Get your coffee (available in the restaurant section, but usually Debora will have some hot coffee in thermoses ready on the lounge bar) and come on in and write. Badges required. You can also be in the restaurant area to write if you wish. It is an extension of the lounge and the only eating of meals in there during the early part of the day will be the breakfasts that the resort puts on for you exclusively. (This repeats Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings.) For those writers coming in today, pick up your badges and retreat information just about any time.
9:00 am – Pancake Breakfast! Cabin 6
The restaurant is closed to local traffic, but the Rainforest Writers Village wants to treat you to a good first meal of the day each day of the retreat, complimentary. Today, the retreat director will throw some pancakes on the grill and dish out some fruit, hard-boiled eggs, and other goodies in Cabin 6. Come in anytime between 9:00 and 10:00.
11:00 am -- Discussion: “Archaeology in Your World-building” The Salmon House Restaurant
Presented by Rhiannon Held. It's pretty obvious you'll want to look to archaeology if your characters are exploring ancient ruins, or if you want to chart the long course of history in your world. But there's much more to it than that! What's the difference between compliance and academic archaeology? Between oral history and oral tradition? How do your characters feel about their cultures' history--do they revere it, or have they forgotten it? Look at ways to make your world come alive beyond dusty temples and tombs.
This lunch is on your own, but we'll have some sandwich fixings and light munchies in Cabin #6 for those of you who want to pick up some food between now and 1 pm. There are a few “assembly” areas for putting together sandwiches, and you can pick up other food from the table and eat in the cabin, outside, or to your own room/cabin. There are also food items you can buy in the store across the street, and other restaurants within driving distance.
1:00 pm – Community Writing continues in the Lounge
Or maybe you skipped lunch and kept on writing! You can continue to write in there until about an hour before the restaurant opens for dinner.
6:00 pm -- Group Dinner in the Salmon House Restaurant
All participants, let’s meet and eat in the restaurant for a big group dinner! It’s fun to have a big group of us in one spot chowing down. We do this on this particular night and time so the restaurant staff is ready for us. On this Thursday only, since the Lounge will be open to the public, all attending writers won't be able to be in there from 4 pm to 6 pm (and, of course, until after dinner). The trade-off will be that writers can be in the restaurant part (The Salmon House) if they want to write from 4-6 pm. The restaurant part will be held for our group only, and will not be used for seating for the public, and if you want to be in the restaurant working before the group dinner, you can! But, before the group dinner begins, computers and other things will have to be put away, because once we are seated at our tables, they may need the bottom area of the restaurant for more public seating. Also, it will be okay for writers to be in the bar section of the lounge for drinks and chat during that 4-6 pm time.
Friday, March 7
9:00 am -- Guest Continental Breakfast: Salmon House Restaurant
The restaurant will open just for us and provide breakfast! It’s complimentary. It'll be yummy.
11:00 am -- Discussion: “Monk’s Bag of Tricks for Fabulous Stories” Rainforest Restaurant
Presented by Devon Monk. Devon’s tricks include fun (probably not stolen) tips, hints, and secrets. Devon has dove into her bag of tricks over the last few decades and 34 some-odd books. Time for some fun!
3:00-8:00 pm -- Dinner on your own.
9:00 pm or so -- Group Readings: Salmon House Restaurant
When the restaurant closes, and they’ve cleared the seating area, it is open for retreat members. Here's your chance to share with other attendees and guests the material you've written so far during the retreat or share other work in progress. Note: This event is very informal and doesn’t always happen. It all depends on the writers in each session, and who might want to share. If that’s you, be proactive and check with other attendees who might be interested. Or show up just ahead of the scheduled time and see who’s in.
Saturday, March 8
9:00 am -- Group Breakfast: The Salmon House Restaurant (Complimentary)
11:00 am -- Discussion: “Steaming Up the Windows” The Salmon House Restaurant
Presented by Coral Moore. A lot of writers are scared to add more spice to their work, but there’s really nothing to be afraid of. We’ll talk about what makes a sex scene good, beyond just the obvious, and how you can make them integral to your books.
Join Debora Reinert and Chuck Walbridge, who will host a tasty lunch. This happens from the porch of Cabin 18. We’ll prep everything in #18 and be ready to feed you! There will be some space in #18 to eat if you wish, or across the way in Cabin #6, or wherever you prefer. Enjoy some amazing soups and some to-die-for grilled cheese sandwiches. We serve the soup in a nice cozy cup to make it super convenient. The lunch is complimentary and guaranteed delicious.
3:00-8:00 pm -- Dinner on your own.
8:00 pm -– Night Owl Writers: Rainforest Lounge
Remember that it is writers only, starting at this time.
9:00 pm -- Cabin Party: Cabin #6
(Or sooner!) The Saturday night Cabin Party is a Rainforest retreat institution! This would be BYOB for not-so-light drinks. Extra munchies can be brought too.
Sunday, March 9
9:00 am -- Breakfast: The Salmon House Restaurant.
11:00 am -- Farewell Fling & Awards: Rainforest Lounge.
After you’ve had your breakfast and last chance for writing and adding to that word count, we’ll meet here to say goodbye and show our appreciation to our attendees and honored presenters. We’ll check that biggest winners from the word count board (guaranteed a prize!) and hand out the Rainforest Writers Inspiration Award. We’ll close it all out with a drawing for neat door prizes.
Drive home safely!!
Wednesday, March 5
5:00 pm -- Retreat Opens
The retreat “officially” opens now. Some of you will probably arrive earlier than this, and I can’t guarantee the writing space will be available earlier.
7:00 pm -- Registration Opens: Meet & Greet & Write
Or maybe a little earlier than this. Participants can start picking up badges and retreat information at this time in the lounge, either from me or Debora Reinert. The “word count tally board” will be in a designated spot in the lounge once again this year. Get ready for your chance to win prizes! The official “start” time for keeping track starts as soon as you have your registration badge! Also, don’t forget to vote for this year’s Rainforest Inspirational Award recipient! If you haven’t already been in the lounge meeting and greeting, this is a good time. Or try a writing session. This is all very informal.
- The restaurant closes at 8 p.m. Since the lounge is closed at this time to all locals and tourists, we’ll have the place to ourselves. You can mingle with other late-night writers, but at this point ,the night writers get a quiet room. Please wear your badges.
For those of you who like to burn the late-night oil and write in a community setting, you’ll be able to hang out here and write for as long as you’d like. Badges required. This repeats Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.
10:00 pm -- Book table opens. It’ll be ready for business before the night is through. (For many of you Early Bird writers, the table will be ready for you the next day.) Many of the books come to Rainforest courtesy of our bookseller Kathmandu Books (Mark Wingenfeld, proprietor). Other books are on consignment (Kathmandu takes a 20% consignment.) Writers, bring those books to the lounge as early as you can and get an accounting sheet filled out. Attendees, do bring some green or plastic and support the independent bookseller and your great presenters! From this point through the end of the retreat, the book table will be open whenever you can find Debora Reinert or myself. You can also put books on hold to pay later when Patrick’s around for credit card orders. Don’t forget to track down fellow writers to get your books signed!
Thursday, March 6
6:00 am -- Early Bird Writers: The Salmon House Restaurant
You can even come in earlier if you’re that kind of crazy! It’s the early morning equivalent of the Night Owls. Get your coffee (available in the restaurant section, but usually Debora will have some hot coffee in thermoses ready on the lounge bar) and come on in and write. Badges required. You can also be in the restaurant area to write if you wish. It is an extension of the lounge and the only eating of meals in there during the early part of the day will be the breakfasts that the resort puts on for you exclusively. (This repeats Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings.) For those writers coming in today, pick up your badges and retreat information just about any time.
9:00 am – Pancake Breakfast! Cabin 6
The restaurant is closed to local traffic, but the Rainforest Writers Village wants to treat you to a good first meal of the day each day of the retreat, complimentary. Today, the retreat director will throw some pancakes on the grill and dish out some fruit, hard-boiled eggs, and other goodies in Cabin 6. Come in anytime between 9:00 and 10:00.
11:00 am -- Discussion: “Archaeology in Your World-building” The Salmon House Restaurant
Presented by Rhiannon Held. It's pretty obvious you'll want to look to archaeology if your characters are exploring ancient ruins, or if you want to chart the long course of history in your world. But there's much more to it than that! What's the difference between compliance and academic archaeology? Between oral history and oral tradition? How do your characters feel about their cultures' history--do they revere it, or have they forgotten it? Look at ways to make your world come alive beyond dusty temples and tombs.
- Rhiannon Held is the author of the Silver series of urban fantasy novels. She lives in the Pacific Northwest, where she works as an archaeologist for an environmental compliance firm. At work, she uses her degree mostly for copy-editing technical reports; in writing, she uses it for cultural world-building; in public, she’ll probably use it to check the mold seams on the wine bottle at dinner.
This lunch is on your own, but we'll have some sandwich fixings and light munchies in Cabin #6 for those of you who want to pick up some food between now and 1 pm. There are a few “assembly” areas for putting together sandwiches, and you can pick up other food from the table and eat in the cabin, outside, or to your own room/cabin. There are also food items you can buy in the store across the street, and other restaurants within driving distance.
1:00 pm – Community Writing continues in the Lounge
Or maybe you skipped lunch and kept on writing! You can continue to write in there until about an hour before the restaurant opens for dinner.
6:00 pm -- Group Dinner in the Salmon House Restaurant
All participants, let’s meet and eat in the restaurant for a big group dinner! It’s fun to have a big group of us in one spot chowing down. We do this on this particular night and time so the restaurant staff is ready for us. On this Thursday only, since the Lounge will be open to the public, all attending writers won't be able to be in there from 4 pm to 6 pm (and, of course, until after dinner). The trade-off will be that writers can be in the restaurant part (The Salmon House) if they want to write from 4-6 pm. The restaurant part will be held for our group only, and will not be used for seating for the public, and if you want to be in the restaurant working before the group dinner, you can! But, before the group dinner begins, computers and other things will have to be put away, because once we are seated at our tables, they may need the bottom area of the restaurant for more public seating. Also, it will be okay for writers to be in the bar section of the lounge for drinks and chat during that 4-6 pm time.
- Fri-Sat nights the restaurant is open normally for us from 3 pm – 8 pm daily for dinner. We made the decision to leave dinner to you because we wanted to give you to support our sponsors, the Rainforest Resort Village. Meals from their restaurant are reasonably priced and quite tasty! Other restaurants are in the area, however, including the Roosevelt Room at the Lake Quinault Lodge, one mile away, and a few other options in Amanda Park at the foot of the lake.
Friday, March 7
9:00 am -- Guest Continental Breakfast: Salmon House Restaurant
The restaurant will open just for us and provide breakfast! It’s complimentary. It'll be yummy.
11:00 am -- Discussion: “Monk’s Bag of Tricks for Fabulous Stories” Rainforest Restaurant
Presented by Devon Monk. Devon’s tricks include fun (probably not stolen) tips, hints, and secrets. Devon has dove into her bag of tricks over the last few decades and 34 some-odd books. Time for some fun!
- Devon Monk is a USA TODAY Bestselling Fantasy author. Her fantasy series include Ordinary Magic, Souls of the Road, West Hell Magic, House Immortal, Allie Beckstrom, Broken Magic, and Age of Steam. If it’s a Monk story, it’s fast, fun and filled with wild magic, twisty adventures, soul-deep love, and lots of laughs. She also writes short stories which can be found in various anthologies and in her collection: A Cup of Normal. She lives happily beneath the rainy skies of Oregon. When not writing, she can be found drinking too much coffee, watching hockey, and knitting ridiculous toys.
3:00-8:00 pm -- Dinner on your own.
9:00 pm or so -- Group Readings: Salmon House Restaurant
When the restaurant closes, and they’ve cleared the seating area, it is open for retreat members. Here's your chance to share with other attendees and guests the material you've written so far during the retreat or share other work in progress. Note: This event is very informal and doesn’t always happen. It all depends on the writers in each session, and who might want to share. If that’s you, be proactive and check with other attendees who might be interested. Or show up just ahead of the scheduled time and see who’s in.
Saturday, March 8
9:00 am -- Group Breakfast: The Salmon House Restaurant (Complimentary)
11:00 am -- Discussion: “Steaming Up the Windows” The Salmon House Restaurant
Presented by Coral Moore. A lot of writers are scared to add more spice to their work, but there’s really nothing to be afraid of. We’ll talk about what makes a sex scene good, beyond just the obvious, and how you can make them integral to your books.
- Coral Alejandra Moore writes character driven stories of connection and triumph. All of her books are kissing books. Currently she lives in the beautiful state of Washington with the love of her life and a dangerously smart Catahoula Leopard Dog where she rides motorcycles, raises chickens, and drinks all the coffee. Find her online at: http://www.coralmoore.com/
Join Debora Reinert and Chuck Walbridge, who will host a tasty lunch. This happens from the porch of Cabin 18. We’ll prep everything in #18 and be ready to feed you! There will be some space in #18 to eat if you wish, or across the way in Cabin #6, or wherever you prefer. Enjoy some amazing soups and some to-die-for grilled cheese sandwiches. We serve the soup in a nice cozy cup to make it super convenient. The lunch is complimentary and guaranteed delicious.
3:00-8:00 pm -- Dinner on your own.
8:00 pm -– Night Owl Writers: Rainforest Lounge
Remember that it is writers only, starting at this time.
9:00 pm -- Cabin Party: Cabin #6
(Or sooner!) The Saturday night Cabin Party is a Rainforest retreat institution! This would be BYOB for not-so-light drinks. Extra munchies can be brought too.
- Remember that after-hours celebrating or alcoholic drinks in the lounge are not permitted, and Night Owl writers still have the right-of-way in there for as long as they want.
Sunday, March 9
9:00 am -- Breakfast: The Salmon House Restaurant.
11:00 am -- Farewell Fling & Awards: Rainforest Lounge.
After you’ve had your breakfast and last chance for writing and adding to that word count, we’ll meet here to say goodbye and show our appreciation to our attendees and honored presenters. We’ll check that biggest winners from the word count board (guaranteed a prize!) and hand out the Rainforest Writers Inspiration Award. We’ll close it all out with a drawing for neat door prizes.
- This is also your last chance at the book table, before the Fling, and even after we’re done. If your books are there on consignment, you’ll settle up with Debora, and also check with us if Kathmandu Books has any books left on the table that you can sign.
Drive home safely!!
SESSION FOUR:
Wednesday, March 12
5:00 pm -- Retreat Opens
The retreat “officially” opens now. Some of you will probably arrive earlier than this, and I can’t guarantee the writing space will be available earlier.
7:00 pm -- Registration Opens: Meet & Greet & Write
Or maybe a little earlier than this. Participants can start picking up badges and retreat information at this time in the lounge, either from me or Debora Reinert. The “word count tally board” will be in a designated spot in the lounge once again this year. Get ready for your chance to win prizes! The official “start” time for keeping track starts as soon as you have your registration badge! Also, don’t forget to vote for this year’s Rainforest Inspirational Award recipient! If you haven’t already been in the lounge meeting and greeting, this is a good time. Or try a writing session. This is all very informal.
For those of you who like to burn the late-night oil and write in a community setting, you’ll be able to hang out here and write for as long as you’d like. Badges required. This repeats Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.
10:00 pm -- Book table opens. It’ll be ready for business before the night is through. (For many of you Early Bird writers, the table will be ready for you the next day.) Many of the books come to Rainforest courtesy of our bookseller Kathmandu Books (Mark Wingenfeld, proprietor). Other books are on consignment (Kathmandu takes a 20% consignment.) Writers, bring those books to the lounge as early as you can and get an accounting sheet filled out. Attendees, do bring some green or plastic and support the independent bookseller and your great presenters! From this point through the end of the retreat, the book table will be open whenever you can find Debora Reinert or myself. You can also put books on hold to pay later when Patrick’s around for credit card orders. Don’t forget to track down fellow writers to get your books signed!
Thursday, March 13
6:00 am -- Early Bird Writers: The Salmon House Restaurant
You can even come in earlier if you’re that kind of crazy! It’s the early morning equivalent of the Night Owls. Get your coffee (available in the restaurant section, but usually Debora will have some hot coffee in thermoses ready on the lounge bar) and come on in and write. Badges required. You can also be in the restaurant area to write if you wish. It is an extension of the lounge and the only eating of meals in there during the early part of the day will be the breakfasts that the resort puts on for you exclusively. (This repeats Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings.) For those writers coming in today, pick up your badges and retreat information just about any time.
9:00 am – Pancake Breakfast! Cabin 6
The restaurant is closed to local traffic, but the Rainforest Writers Village wants to treat you to a good first meal of the day each day of the retreat, complimentary. Today, the retreat director will throw some pancakes on the grill and dish out some fruit, hard-boiled eggs, and other goodies in Cabin 6. Come in anytime between 9:00 and 10:00.
11:00 am -- Discussion: “A Rubric to Strengthen Self-Editing” The Salmon House Restaurant
Presented by Mary-Kate Mackey. Mary-Kate will cover four areas—CHARACTER, (Characterization, Dialogue, Protagonist’s Wants and Needs, Setting/World Building); PLOT, (Inciting Incident, Choices Faced, Consequences); STYLE (Emotional Tone, Theme, Pacing); and MECHANICS (the picky details—Show vs. Tell, Passive/Filtered Voice, and Killing Darlings). Be ready for a hands-on exercise for creating a genre-specific rubric.
This lunch is on your own, but we'll have some sandwich fixings and light munchies in Cabin #6 for those of you who want to pick up some food between now and 1 pm. There are a few “assembly” areas for putting together sandwiches, and you can pick up other food from the table and eat in the cabin, outside, or to your own room/cabin. There are also food items you can buy in the store across the street, and other restaurants within driving distance.
1:00 pm – Community Writing continues in the Lounge
Or maybe you skipped lunch and kept on writing! You can continue to write in there until about an hour before the restaurant opens for dinner.
6:00 pm -- Group Dinner in the Salmon House Restaurant
All participants, let’s meet and eat in the restaurant for a big group dinner! It’s fun to have a big group of us in one spot chowing down. We do this on this particular night and time so the restaurant staff is ready for us. On this Thursday only, since the Lounge will be open to the public, all attending writers won't be able to be in there from 4 pm to 6 pm (and, of course, until after dinner). The trade-off will be that writers can be in the restaurant part (The Salmon House) if they want to write from 4-6 pm. The restaurant part will be held for our group only, and will not be used for seating for the public, and if you want to be in the restaurant working before the group dinner, you can! But, before the group dinner begins, computers and other things will have to be put away, because once we are seated at our tables, they may need the bottom area of the restaurant for more public seating. Also, it will be okay for writers to be in the bar section of the lounge for drinks and chat during that 4-6 pm time.
Presented by Remy Nakamura. Time for Session 4 to feel the vibes! We know What's Up. You want to be a Paperback Writer. Every Day You Write The Book. But The Truth Hurts: we're Under Pressure. The Cure: Let it Go, take your horse or your feets to that Old Town Road and sing with your Friends in Low Places, aka Cabin Six. You'll Shake It Off and be feeling Good As Hell in no time! Dynamic divas, crowd chorales, and shy spectators are all welcome. Feel free to bring your Gin and Juice or Tennessee Whiskey. We'll reach out soon via email for song requests so we can avoid embarrassing download times--stay tuned!
8:00 pm –- Night Owl Writers
Friday, March 14
9:00 am -- Guest Continental Breakfast: Salmon House Restaurant
The restaurant will open just for us and provide breakfast! It’s complimentary. It'll be yummy.
11:00 am -- Discussion: “Tools for Untangling Your Story” Rainforest Restaurant
Presented by Fonda Lee. It happens to every writer: One day you’re happily drafting your story and the next, it feels like you’ve run into a brick wall or gotten completely lost in a tangled forest of your own making. Don’t despair! Fonda Lee will discuss some useful techniques for getting unstuck and finding your way back into the narrative. We’ll start with the importance of identifying the core of your story, mapping its key turning points, and diagnosing common problems. We’ll engage in exercises focused on auditing scenes, reverse outlining, self-critiquing and more. The next time your story feels like a jumbled mess, try pulling out one of these tools from your writer’s toolbox.
3:00-8:00 pm -- Dinner on your own.
9:00 pm or so -- Group Readings: Salmon House Restaurant
When the restaurant closes, and they’ve cleared the seating area, it is open for retreat members. Here's your chance to share with other attendees and guests the material you've written so far during the retreat or share other work in progress. Note: This event is very informal and doesn’t always happen. It all depends on the writers in each session, and who might want to share. If that’s you, be proactive and check with other attendees who might be interested. Or show up just ahead of the scheduled time and see who’s in.
Saturday, March 15
9:00 am -- Group Breakfast: The Salmon House Restaurant (Complimentary)
11:00 am -- Discussion: “SpecPo: What Is It Good For?” The Salmon House Restaurant
Presented by Colleen Anderson. Speculative poetry has seen a resurgence in magazines and anthologies, and has not only been recognized for awards by the SFPA and the HWA, but SFWA is now including poetry. From scifaiku to epic tales written in verse, poetry is now considered an accessible form for writers and readers. This overview will look at some types of poetry, places to submit or read, and how specpo can enhance the speculative world. There may even be a short hands-on in writing a short poem.
Join Debora Reinert and Chuck Walbridge, who will host a tasty lunch. This happens from the porch of Cabin 18. We’ll prep everything in #18 and be ready to feed you! There will be some space in #18 to eat if you wish, or across the way in Cabin #6, or wherever you prefer. Enjoy some amazing soups and some to-die-for grilled cheese sandwiches. We serve the soup in a nice cozy cup to make it super convenient. The lunch is complimentary and guaranteed delicious.
3:00-8:00 pm -- Dinner on your own.
8:00 pm -- Night Owl Writers: Rainforest Lounge
Remember that it is writers only, starting at this time.
9:00 pm -- Cabin Party: Cabin #6
(Or sooner!) The Saturday night Cabin Party is a Rainforest retreat institution! This would be BYOB for not-so-light drinks. Extra munchies can be brought too.
Sunday, March 16
9:00 am -- Breakfast: The Salmon House Restaurant.
11:00 am -- Farewell Fling & Awards: Rainforest Lounge.
After you’ve had your breakfast and last chance for writing and adding to that word count, we’ll meet here to say goodbye and show our appreciation to our attendees and honored presenters. We’ll check that biggest winners from the word count board (guaranteed a prize!) and hand out the Rainforest Writers Inspiration Award. We’ll close it all out with a drawing for neat door prizes.
Drive home safely!!
Wednesday, March 12
5:00 pm -- Retreat Opens
The retreat “officially” opens now. Some of you will probably arrive earlier than this, and I can’t guarantee the writing space will be available earlier.
7:00 pm -- Registration Opens: Meet & Greet & Write
Or maybe a little earlier than this. Participants can start picking up badges and retreat information at this time in the lounge, either from me or Debora Reinert. The “word count tally board” will be in a designated spot in the lounge once again this year. Get ready for your chance to win prizes! The official “start” time for keeping track starts as soon as you have your registration badge! Also, don’t forget to vote for this year’s Rainforest Inspirational Award recipient! If you haven’t already been in the lounge meeting and greeting, this is a good time. Or try a writing session. This is all very informal.
- The restaurant closes at 8 p.m. Since the lounge is closed at this time to all locals and tourists, we’ll have the place to ourselves. You can mingle with other late-night writers, but at this point ,the night writers get a quiet room. Please wear your badges.
For those of you who like to burn the late-night oil and write in a community setting, you’ll be able to hang out here and write for as long as you’d like. Badges required. This repeats Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.
10:00 pm -- Book table opens. It’ll be ready for business before the night is through. (For many of you Early Bird writers, the table will be ready for you the next day.) Many of the books come to Rainforest courtesy of our bookseller Kathmandu Books (Mark Wingenfeld, proprietor). Other books are on consignment (Kathmandu takes a 20% consignment.) Writers, bring those books to the lounge as early as you can and get an accounting sheet filled out. Attendees, do bring some green or plastic and support the independent bookseller and your great presenters! From this point through the end of the retreat, the book table will be open whenever you can find Debora Reinert or myself. You can also put books on hold to pay later when Patrick’s around for credit card orders. Don’t forget to track down fellow writers to get your books signed!
Thursday, March 13
6:00 am -- Early Bird Writers: The Salmon House Restaurant
You can even come in earlier if you’re that kind of crazy! It’s the early morning equivalent of the Night Owls. Get your coffee (available in the restaurant section, but usually Debora will have some hot coffee in thermoses ready on the lounge bar) and come on in and write. Badges required. You can also be in the restaurant area to write if you wish. It is an extension of the lounge and the only eating of meals in there during the early part of the day will be the breakfasts that the resort puts on for you exclusively. (This repeats Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings.) For those writers coming in today, pick up your badges and retreat information just about any time.
9:00 am – Pancake Breakfast! Cabin 6
The restaurant is closed to local traffic, but the Rainforest Writers Village wants to treat you to a good first meal of the day each day of the retreat, complimentary. Today, the retreat director will throw some pancakes on the grill and dish out some fruit, hard-boiled eggs, and other goodies in Cabin 6. Come in anytime between 9:00 and 10:00.
11:00 am -- Discussion: “A Rubric to Strengthen Self-Editing” The Salmon House Restaurant
Presented by Mary-Kate Mackey. Mary-Kate will cover four areas—CHARACTER, (Characterization, Dialogue, Protagonist’s Wants and Needs, Setting/World Building); PLOT, (Inciting Incident, Choices Faced, Consequences); STYLE (Emotional Tone, Theme, Pacing); and MECHANICS (the picky details—Show vs. Tell, Passive/Filtered Voice, and Killing Darlings). Be ready for a hands-on exercise for creating a genre-specific rubric.
- Mary-Kate Mackey is an award-winning writer and the recipient of nine Garden Communicators International media awards, including a Gold in 2021 for her column, Rooting for You, on the Hartley-Botanic Greenhouse website. For over twenty years, her byline has appeared in numerous magazines such as Fine Gardening, Horticulture, Sunset, American Gardener, and This Old House. Mary-Kate’s newest book, co-authored with Kathleen Brenzel, is The Healthy Garden—Simple Steps for a Greener World. Her work has also appeared in publications such as Sunset’s Secret Gardens, Gardening in the Northwest, and the Sunset Western Garden Book. Her previous book, Write Better Right Now: The Reluctant Writer’s Guide to Confident Communication and Self-Assured Style, is based on her fourteen years teaching upper-division writing in the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication. Mary-Kate writes and gardens, not necessarily in that order, outside Eugene, Oregon.
This lunch is on your own, but we'll have some sandwich fixings and light munchies in Cabin #6 for those of you who want to pick up some food between now and 1 pm. There are a few “assembly” areas for putting together sandwiches, and you can pick up other food from the table and eat in the cabin, outside, or to your own room/cabin. There are also food items you can buy in the store across the street, and other restaurants within driving distance.
1:00 pm – Community Writing continues in the Lounge
Or maybe you skipped lunch and kept on writing! You can continue to write in there until about an hour before the restaurant opens for dinner.
6:00 pm -- Group Dinner in the Salmon House Restaurant
All participants, let’s meet and eat in the restaurant for a big group dinner! It’s fun to have a big group of us in one spot chowing down. We do this on this particular night and time so the restaurant staff is ready for us. On this Thursday only, since the Lounge will be open to the public, all attending writers won't be able to be in there from 4 pm to 6 pm (and, of course, until after dinner). The trade-off will be that writers can be in the restaurant part (The Salmon House) if they want to write from 4-6 pm. The restaurant part will be held for our group only, and will not be used for seating for the public, and if you want to be in the restaurant working before the group dinner, you can! But, before the group dinner begins, computers and other things will have to be put away, because once we are seated at our tables, they may need the bottom area of the restaurant for more public seating. Also, it will be okay for writers to be in the bar section of the lounge for drinks and chat during that 4-6 pm time.
- Fri-Sat nights the restaurant is open normally for us from 3 pm – 8 pm daily for dinner. We made the decision to leave dinner to you because we wanted to give you to support our sponsors, the Rainforest Resort Village. Meals from their restaurant are reasonably priced and quite tasty! Other restaurants are in the area, however, including the Roosevelt Room at the Lake Quinault Lodge, one mile away, and a few other options in Amanda Park at the foot of the lake.
Presented by Remy Nakamura. Time for Session 4 to feel the vibes! We know What's Up. You want to be a Paperback Writer. Every Day You Write The Book. But The Truth Hurts: we're Under Pressure. The Cure: Let it Go, take your horse or your feets to that Old Town Road and sing with your Friends in Low Places, aka Cabin Six. You'll Shake It Off and be feeling Good As Hell in no time! Dynamic divas, crowd chorales, and shy spectators are all welcome. Feel free to bring your Gin and Juice or Tennessee Whiskey. We'll reach out soon via email for song requests so we can avoid embarrassing download times--stay tuned!
8:00 pm –- Night Owl Writers
Friday, March 14
9:00 am -- Guest Continental Breakfast: Salmon House Restaurant
The restaurant will open just for us and provide breakfast! It’s complimentary. It'll be yummy.
11:00 am -- Discussion: “Tools for Untangling Your Story” Rainforest Restaurant
Presented by Fonda Lee. It happens to every writer: One day you’re happily drafting your story and the next, it feels like you’ve run into a brick wall or gotten completely lost in a tangled forest of your own making. Don’t despair! Fonda Lee will discuss some useful techniques for getting unstuck and finding your way back into the narrative. We’ll start with the importance of identifying the core of your story, mapping its key turning points, and diagnosing common problems. We’ll engage in exercises focused on auditing scenes, reverse outlining, self-critiquing and more. The next time your story feels like a jumbled mess, try pulling out one of these tools from your writer’s toolbox.
- Fonda Lee is the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of the Green Bone Saga, consisting of the novels Jade City, Jade War, and Jade Legacy, along with a prequel novella The Jade Setter of Janloon and a short story collection, Jade Shards. She is also the author of the fantasy novella, Untethered Sky and several young adult novels: Zeroboxer, the Exo duology, and the Breathmarked duology, co-written with Shannon Lee, the first book, Breath of the Dragon, published in 2025. Fonda is a winner of the World Fantasy Award, the Locus Award, and a six-time winner of the Aurora Award (Canada’s national science fiction and fantasy award), as well as a multiple finalist for the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the Oregon Book Award. Jade City has been translated into fifteen languages, named to TIME Magazine’s Top 100 Fantasy Books of All Time, and optioned for television development.
3:00-8:00 pm -- Dinner on your own.
9:00 pm or so -- Group Readings: Salmon House Restaurant
When the restaurant closes, and they’ve cleared the seating area, it is open for retreat members. Here's your chance to share with other attendees and guests the material you've written so far during the retreat or share other work in progress. Note: This event is very informal and doesn’t always happen. It all depends on the writers in each session, and who might want to share. If that’s you, be proactive and check with other attendees who might be interested. Or show up just ahead of the scheduled time and see who’s in.
Saturday, March 15
9:00 am -- Group Breakfast: The Salmon House Restaurant (Complimentary)
11:00 am -- Discussion: “SpecPo: What Is It Good For?” The Salmon House Restaurant
Presented by Colleen Anderson. Speculative poetry has seen a resurgence in magazines and anthologies, and has not only been recognized for awards by the SFPA and the HWA, but SFWA is now including poetry. From scifaiku to epic tales written in verse, poetry is now considered an accessible form for writers and readers. This overview will look at some types of poetry, places to submit or read, and how specpo can enhance the speculative world. There may even be a short hands-on in writing a short poem.
- Colleen Anderson, a past online poetry and fiction editor and slush manuscript editor, has edited many first-time novels for individuals as well as working with publishers and magazines. She co-edited two anthologies Tesseracts 17 and Playground of Lost Toys, and 2018 saw her editing Alice Unbound: Beyond Wonderland through Exile Publishing. In 2018 her collection A Body of Work was published by Black Shuck Books, UK. She works on several stories at the same time and a few poems. She also has a novel, a collection of poetry, and other stories in the works. In 2017-2018 the Canada Council gave Colleen a grant for writing.
Join Debora Reinert and Chuck Walbridge, who will host a tasty lunch. This happens from the porch of Cabin 18. We’ll prep everything in #18 and be ready to feed you! There will be some space in #18 to eat if you wish, or across the way in Cabin #6, or wherever you prefer. Enjoy some amazing soups and some to-die-for grilled cheese sandwiches. We serve the soup in a nice cozy cup to make it super convenient. The lunch is complimentary and guaranteed delicious.
3:00-8:00 pm -- Dinner on your own.
8:00 pm -- Night Owl Writers: Rainforest Lounge
Remember that it is writers only, starting at this time.
9:00 pm -- Cabin Party: Cabin #6
(Or sooner!) The Saturday night Cabin Party is a Rainforest retreat institution! This would be BYOB for not-so-light drinks. Extra munchies can be brought too.
- Remember that after-hours celebrating or alcoholic drinks in the lounge are not permitted, and Night Owl writers still have the right-of-way in there for as long as they want.
Sunday, March 16
9:00 am -- Breakfast: The Salmon House Restaurant.
11:00 am -- Farewell Fling & Awards: Rainforest Lounge.
After you’ve had your breakfast and last chance for writing and adding to that word count, we’ll meet here to say goodbye and show our appreciation to our attendees and honored presenters. We’ll check that biggest winners from the word count board (guaranteed a prize!) and hand out the Rainforest Writers Inspiration Award. We’ll close it all out with a drawing for neat door prizes.
- This is also your last chance at the book table, before the Fling, and even after we’re done. If your books are there on consignment, you’ll settle up with Debora, and also check with us if Kathmandu Books has any books left on the table that you can sign.
Drive home safely!!