Spotlight on Residency 2026 (Part 2)

The R(ev)ise and Shine! Residency is our signature event of the year, and something we all look forward to with great joy and anticipation. For this month’s two-part Revision Reflections, we thought we would share our personal thoughts on working with other writers in community.

Earlier this month we heard from Jennifer and Jo, but today it’s Lesa’s and Rob’s turn to talk about their own perspectives on the residency:

Lesa:

There is nothing I look forward to more than the start of a new project. But too often when I am knee deep in one project, I become equally excited at the prospect of starting a brand new one. The harder it is to develop my work in progress, the more I begin thinking about other stories I want to write. Why is the next thing so often the next best thing? For many of us, the starting is easy, it is the work of finishing that is difficult.

I am eternally grateful to be a member of two writing groups with fellow writers whose fresh eyes and new perspectives generate the energy I need to help me to focus and create. Retreats, like the R(ev)ise & Shine! Residency, with a community of writers sharing ideas and feeding each other’s creativity also provide the avenues to seeing anew.

The “Have you ever read the book…” and “There’s a great documentary you should check out…” exchanges are sometimes just the right mix of nudge and support when motivation wanes and discipline is needed. Planning, dreaming and brainstorming are integral parts of our journeys as writers. All happen in abundance in community with others.

Do you have a seed of an idea you would like to grow? Are you working on several ideas and not sure what direction to take? Are you endlessly fascinated by the next great idea rather than the one you’re working on?

Join us at this year’s residency to restore, reset, refocus and of course, revise and shine.

Rob:

Shortly after I graduated from my MFA program in 2012, I stopped writing. Partially this was from sheer exhaustion. Two years of intensive study at VCFA had left me feeling wrung out and in desperate need of a break. But as that break stretched from weeks to months to years, it slowly dawned on me that when I graduated, I’d not only left behind the rigorous structure of an academic program with assignments and deadlines that forced me to write, I’d also lost the wider community of writers who inspired me to write. Sure, some of us stayed in touch online, but that connection, as important as it was, couldn’t replace the powerful sense of togetherness created during our 10-day-long residences, when students and faculty would travel from across the country and around the world to immerse ourselves in a creative cauldron of lectures, workshops, mealtime book discussions, and late night gabfests leavened with wine and laughter.

It wasn’t until the summer of 2014, when my dear friend Nicole Valentine invited me to join her as a teaching assistant in the Whole Novel Workshop at the Highlights Foundation (now Boyds Mills), that I found a brand new community to replace what I’d left behind at VCFA. Returning to Whole Novel each summer sustained me for a period of many years when I had few other opportunities to connect with the writing world. It was at Whole Novel that I rediscovered my love of writing. It’s no exaggeration to say that without my friends and students at Boyds Mills, I might never have finished a novel, found my wonderful agent, published a single book, or co-founded R(ev)ise and Shine! They encouraged me, offered me advice, inspired me with fresh ideas and new perspectives, and built up my confidence as a writer through their love and support and faith in my work (when even I had little faith in it).

In no small measure, the Whole Novel Workshop community made me the writer I am today.

It’s a dark and scary time right now. It’s a difficult time to stay creative. I don’t know about you, but for me there are too many days when the seemingly endless doom scroll saps all of my energy and motivation to write. I think we all know how this feels, how the constant drumbeat of misery, stupidity, greed, and evil drowns out our ability to concentrate on our own writing. Instead, we feel the urgent need to do something. So we send emails, make phone calls, write checks, attend rallies, and scan the headlines wringing our hands and praying for the dam to finally break.

We do everything but create.

As a result, it’s all too easy to get caught up in feelings of frustration and isolation. Writing is a lonely endeavor under the best of circumstances, but in this enraging era of distraction, when sleaze, bigotry, and dehumanization threaten to rob every morsel of hope and joy from life, it’s a challenge not to give in to despair and put the pen (or keyboard) down for good.

It’s at times like these that the creative communities we form take on their most precious role as places of refuge and renewal. Sometimes we just need other writers to remind us of why we write—that even in crafting the silliest poem or picture book we defiantly proclaim the value of our own creative voice.

That is the kind of community that Lesa, Jo, Jennifer, and I set out to create when we founded R(ev)ise and Shine! and held our first residency in 2024 (at Boyds Mills, no less). We were inspired by our individual experiences of different writing communities, from VCFA and Whole Novel, to Kindling Words, SCBWI, SNHU, and the countless other retreats and workshops we’d participated in over the years. Since then we have grown and expanded our program and moved to a new location in a different part of the country. Unlike Whole Novel, with its mission focus on completed novels for middle grade and young adult readers, our residency is open to a wider group of creatives—including picture book writers, short story writers, memoirists, and authors of adult fiction. More importantly, we welcome writers at every stage of their careers, with manuscripts at any stage of completion, from the kernel of an idea to a well-polished draft.

Although I still teach at Whole Novel and cherish that experience as much as ever, the community we’ve built with the R(ev)ise and Shine! Residency is equally vital and invaluable to me. It is a place where I return each year to grow and learn and feel safe among other writers just like me struggling with the same doubts, fears, and challenges. The R(ev)ise and Shine! community never fails to renew me. It reminds me that giving voice to what I care passionately about is the most profound act of defiance I can undertake in these perilous times. But most importantly of all, it keeps me writing.

My sincerest hope is that it can do the same for you.

Registration for the 2026 R(ev)ise and Shine! Residency is now open!

Following on our tremendously successful residencies in 2024 and 2025, this year we are thrilled to return to the Green Mountains of Vermont and the lovely Campus at Marlboro Music (formerly Potash Hill). Expect the same delicious food, stimulating programming, stunning surroundings, and embracing community experience, with exciting new special guests and greater choice in accommodations!

This residency is open to everyone. We welcome all writers to join us, from picture book to adult fiction, brand new visitors to the R(ev)ise and Shine! community and old friends alike. Whether you have published before or are just starting out, we will tailor your experience to meet you where you are in your writing journey.

You will be assigned two mentors who will work closely with you to determine your unique strengths and needs as a writer, as well as what’s working and what isn’t (yet!) in your current draft. Together we will help you design a plan of action for your next revision or for getting out of a stuck place. Come prepared to leap over hurdles that have been getting in your way.

Special Guests:

This year we are delighted to welcome Catherine Laudone (guest editor), Sera Rivers (guest agent), James E. Ransome (guest illustrator) and Alysa Wishingrad (guest author) to our residency!

All four will be joining us in person to interact with students and participate in the residency. In addition, for a modest fee, Catherine will be offering one-on-ones to writers of middle grade and picture book manuscripts, while Sera will be offering one-on-ones to writers of young adult and adult manuscripts. For those who write in more than one age category/genre, we invite you to sign up for one-on-ones with both!

• Three full and delicious daily meals prepared by the Brattleboro Food Co-op (including beer, wine, snacks, and appetizers).

• A full schedule of programming, including multiple daily lectures, an evening art event, structured writing time, a group reading, and fun social activities.

• Two 45-minute one-on-one meetings with your Critique and Revision Mentors to discuss your work-in-progress.

• Written feedback from your Critique Mentor on your manuscript pages.

• $500 scholarships available for BIPOC creatives.

• Special guest editor, Catherine Laudone, will be offering one-on-ones to middle grade and picture book authors.

• Special guest agent, Sera Rivers, will be offering one-on-ones to young adult and adult authors.

• Newer accommodations in the state-of-the-art New Dorm.

• A new “Accommodation Upgrade,” featuring a limited number of private apartments (with private bathrooms, entrances, and kitchenettes) available for an additional fee on a first come, first serve basis.

• An optional additional day of retreat time available through Sunday, November 1st for a modest fee.

We’re delighted that for the third year in a row we’ve been able to hold base tuition at the same price of $1995.00!

To Register:

• Register now through May 15, 2026 (or until full) with a $500 non-refundable deposit on our Eventbrite page.

• Balance of tuition due by July 1, 2026.

• The number of participants for this retreat is limited to 20, providing a low attendee-mentor ratio.

Our website offers loads more details, including a full FAQ and additional information about the Campus at Marlboro Music.

Have any questions not addressed yet? Let us know in the comments or drop us a line.

Click the image below to find out more and register now:

Stories ground us in a chaotic world. We are in the midst of a reading crisis and the world is turning more visual. Picture books introduce story and visual narrative before language and are essential tor development and literacy. How do you write books that are relevant, interesting and that matter to a picture book reader and what do editors look for in picture books?

When: Wednesday, May 27, 2026 from 7:00 to 8:00 pm ET

Where: Online

Cost: $20*

*For those who can’t attend live, a recording of this session will be made available for 30 days after the event for all ticket holders.

Click the image below to find out more and sign up:

Paula Wiseman is editor-at-large for Simon & Schuster. She has 45 years experience in publishing, most recently as V.P and Publisher of Paula Wiseman Books/Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. She has worked with Lesa and James Ransome, Toni Morrison, Rosemary Wells, Raul Colon, Matthew Forsythe, Matt Van Fleet and many other amazing book creators.

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