Writing Workshop & Retreat, Rockport, Maine

August 4 – 8, 2025, Maine Media Workshops + College

For writers (or documentary filmmakers) of all levels who want to grow or learn to write memoir AND tell a story with stunning concision. Spend a generative, creative week in Maine studying and writing the passionate and crucial story beats of your memoir or life story.

Spend a week in beautiful Rockport, Maine learning to excavate and craft pivotal moments in memoir; diving into personal themes and memories.

This special pairing of micro-memoir and storytelling skills is like two workshops in one. Both crafts require the other and the workshop is designed to support and enhance your writing and storytelling skills to craft memoir.

Participants will learn: the craft of memoir writing through the lens of 15 crucial story beats (moments that raise the stakes for a compelling and surprising story), and 15 correlating prompts to identify pivotal moments of the memoir (or documentary film). We will study story structure from the Save The Cat workbook.

We will start each morning with a craft topic and a specific story beat. We will write and read a variety of micro-memoirists and memoirists from The Sun, Brevity Magazine, Rumpus, and other authors to immerse ourselves in the literary world of memoirs, micro-memoirs, and personal essays.

Most importantly, participants will write, write, write, get ample opportunity to read their work out loud, and receive nurturing one-on-one feedback.