Join us for Book Craft!
The Inaugural CRAFT SCHOOL Manuscript Retreat
February 10-15, 2027 | 29 Palms Inn, near Joshua Tree National Park
You have a burning desire to finish your book—and you've tried, maybe for years. You have a manuscript or at least some pages, and you know the characters and what happened between them, but how do you shape it into a story that works? If any part of this sounds familiar, then our upcoming Book Craft Retreat is for you!
Because all writing is a collaboration, a public act as editors and readers and writers craft together to bring a book that is beautiful and true into the world.
· Join us February 10-15, 2026 at the iconic 29 Palms Inn, a gorgeous oasis near Joshua Tree National Park, one of the most magical locations in the world.
· 5 nights and days of manuscript workshops, craft talks, generative writing, and community
· A full developmental edit from Gina, Jeannine, or Emily on up to 250 pages, and a personalized one-on-one consult
· An intensive workshop devoted to your book project with six invested workshop peers who also read your full-length work
· A chance to shape your book in an intimate and inspiring setting where geography and community hold the story
· One-of-a-kind desert excursions to Joshua Tree National Park and other unforgettable locales
· $5000 full tuition includes the developmental edit, most meals and excursions, and all Craft School workshops and programs during the retreat
The desert offers its own vast canvas for artists of every discipline. The desert's enormity of beauty, scale, and depth of isolation has long drawn artists from all walks of life to make art from this geography’s desolate loveliness as earth, light, and sky arrange themselves into angles seen nowhere else.
Book Craft offers more than the usual retreat: tuition includes a full developmental edit on your book manuscript-in-progress from a core faculty member (Jeannine, Emily, or Gina), and your book manuscript will also be closely read and intensively workshopped by six of your peers in an intimate seven-person workshop.
If you have a manuscript or can have at least 50 pages of one by January 1 (novel, memoir, story or essay collection, or book of topical creative nonfiction), you are ready for Book Craft, where you'll experience not just usual generative exercises and craft talks offered at most retreats (though we will have writing time and craft talks, too!), but the focused and directed attention of a developmental edit that will help you take your project to the next level during and after the retreat.
And, of course, you'll have a one-on-one meeting with your workshop leader to intricately discuss the next steps for your project so that you return home feeling not just energized and full of direction and purpose but also clear on your path forward toward a completed book.
But...because Book Craft is also a retreat, not just a workshop, we’ll do more than writing. We'll also be offering breathwork (with our own Amanda Fletcher, real and in-person and excited to meet you!) and private tours of the spectacular Joshua Tree National Park by a deeply experienced guide (with optional hiking).
Also, art! Local desert music (including a special show in the courtyard of Rich Good, guitarist for the Psychedelic Furs!) and studio tours of the hi-desert's vibrant visual arts scene! And an event curated just for Craft School where you’ll meet and socialize with local desert writers, as well as a cocktail soiree in the glow of a one-of-a-kind desert sunset at the 5-acre desert home of Craft School's own Gina Frangello and guest faculty Rob Roberge.
Retreat participants can tap into a deeper level of intuitive creativity at the fabulous local "Collage Club," have tarot readings read by a desert expert, and lounge in the hammocks at your tropical oasis (quiet and peaceful in the off season).
But that's still not enough! Daily delicious breakfasts are included at the farm-to-table 29 Palms Inn, as are most excursion-focused lunches and dinners (spare when you have free time to explore at your leisure), all at unique, atmospheric, and acclaimed desert restaurants and pop-ups, so that you don't have to worry about anything but tapping into your deepest creativity and having a blast with your Craft School friends!
This intensive, individualized manuscript retreat is open exclusively to 21 writers who are working on book-length projects. If you have (or will have by January 1) 50 pages or more (250 pages, Times New Roman 12 pt double spaced maximum) of a book project, please reach out to us with a one page "Project Statement" of 500 words maximum describing your book as soon as possible.
Your statement should include the following, and the word counts are approximate as long as the full statement remains 500 words or under:
· Genre (novel, memoir, story or essay collection, hybrid, or book of topical creative nonfiction)
· Current manuscript word count
· 200 word synopsis (don’t let that word scare you, it’s just a short statement of what your book is about; we’ll work on it together during the retreat!)
· 200 word project biography (how long have you been working, significant milestones such as previous workshops or developmental edits, if any—totally fine if this is the first one!)
· 100 words on what you most want from the retreat, your true heart’s desire
Please send to info@craftschool.net with "Book Craft Retreat 2027" in the subject line.
This statement is not about assessing the quality of your writing—the process is not a competition. It’s the opposite. It’s a collaboration to support these books. Your manuscript can be at any stage of development. We simply want to hear about your project and goals so we can help you determine if Book Craft is the right investment for you at this time, as well as guide us in hand-selecting the best possible workshop cohort for you.
Once we receive your statement and confirm your participation, you’ll be provided a payment link and directed to book your room at the 29 Palms Inn for a 10% Craft School discount.
The Inn features an array of lodging options, including multi-bedroom adobe houses with a wide price range, averaging around $200 with the Craft School discount, with many shared options at lower price points, and we can help connect those interested in lodging with others.
The $5000 tuition for Book Craft sits at the average cost of a development edit alone, yet also a focused workshop, close reads by 6 peers hand selected to pair well with your work, most meals, thoughtful cultural and nature opportunities, an in-person one-on-one editorial consultation, mind/body work, and the human-to-human warmth and community building developmental edits alone cannot provide.
We look forward to reading your materials if you think book craft is the next step for you as a writer!
All the best,
Jeannine, Gina, and Emily
The CRAFT SCHOOL Team