Nature of Writing Well
a Mondiwell BEtreat®
The Heart & Soul of Character
September 25, 26, 27
Friday Evening Gathering
Saturday Group Workshops
Sunday Private Sessions
Nature of Writing Well BEtreat®
The Heart & Soul of Character
Join us at Mondiwell for a restorative weekend of immersive creativity, master-level writing workshops and mindful exploration on 12 bucolic acres in historic Concord. Be present where nature, encouragement, and quiet contemplative spaces inspire your imagination and ignite your writing process.
Nature of Writing Well BEtreat® Schedule
Friday, Sept. 25 7:00 - 9:30pm Mocktail Meet & Greet
Saturday, Sept. 26 9:00am - 7:00pm Writing Workshops & Mindful Practices
includes gourmet lunch, snacks, tea, time in nature, and dinner
Sunday, Sept. 27 9:00am - 3:00pm Personal Sessions with Marjan & Michelle
includes lunch, snacks, tea, and time to write, wander and Be Well
Mondiwell programs take place at an environmentally sustainable private residence on 12 serene acres in Concord, MA. Details and directions shared upon acceptance into the Nature of Writing Well BEtreat®
The characters we create are not random, but deeply connected to what we care about and how we perceive the world. Explore The Heart & Soul of Character at Mondiwell’s autumn writing BEtreat® on 12 serene acres in Concord, MA.
Led by internationally acclaimed, award-winning authors and celebrated writing teachers, Marjan Kamali and Michelle Hoover, this intimate BEtreat® features inspiring writing workshops, individual mentorship sessions, and meaningful connection with fellow writers. Mindful practices for writers will be offered by globally renowned guide and author, Ruchika Sikri, along with Mondiwell founder, Lara Wilson, former curator of the Concord Festival of Authors.
The Core of Character
with
Marjan Kamali
MARJAN KAMALI is the New York Times, USAToday, and internationally bestselling author of The Lion Women of Tehran, The Stationery Shop, and Together Tea. Marjan’s novels are published in translation in more than 30 languages. Her essays have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Literary Hub, and The Los Angeles Review of Books.
Marjan is the recipient of a 2022 National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship. She holds a BA in English literature from U.C. Berkeley, an MBA from Columbia University, and a MFA in creative writing from New York University.
Born in Turkey to Iranian parents, Marjan spent her childhood in Turkey, Iran, Germany, Kenya, and the U.S. She lives in the Boston area with her family.
Our fictional worlds are only as believable as the characters who move within them. As F. Scott Fitzgerald said: “Character is plot, plot is character.”
While it’s true that our characters’ decisions drive plot, often socioeconomic, geopolitical, and domestic circumstances deeply alter the choices available to our characters. In this workshop, we will explore how action, thought, speech, point of view, setting, and subtext are used in character development.
Join us at Mondiwell as we delve deep to understand the specific wants, regrets, fears, triumphs, and secrets of our main characters.
Creating Complex Interior Lives
with
Michelle Hoover
MICHELLE HOOVER is the Fannie Hurst Writer-in-Residence at Brandeis University and teaches at GrubStreet, where she leads the Novel Incubator program. She taught writing for more than ten years at Boston University, and has also run undergraduate and graduate writing workshops at Emerson College, Bucknell University, Wellesley College, St. Olaf College, Smith College, UMass-Amherst, as well as the Cape Cod, Wesleyan, and Bread Loaf Writers Conferences. Michelle is also the founder of the popular Substack podcast, 7am Novelist.
In 2014, Michelle was awarded an NEA Fellowship. She has been a Writer-in-Residence at Bucknell University, a MacDowell Fellow, and a winner of the PEN/New England Discovery Award. Her debut novel, The Quickening, was a 2010 Massachusetts Book Award “Must Read.” Her second novel, Bottomland, was the 2017 All Iowa Reads selection.
A native of Iowa and an avid traveler, Michelle lives in Boston when not away on a global adventure.
More than ever, publishers are looking for manuscripts with characters who have complex interior lives. But what is interiority? What is the difference between interiority and exposition? How much is too much? Or too little? When can interiority simply be implied?
A characters’ interiority is not only what they think or feel, but how. And it’s often the uncomfortable, embarrassing glimpses of a characters’ inner life that makes for the best interiority, the very kind that writers attempt to hide in themselves.
With examples and writing exercises, this workshop will help you not only understand your characters' interiority better, but get it on the page in a way that’s unique and engaging without weighing down your manuscript.
Your Mindful BEtreat® Guides
RUCHIKA SIKRI is a Mindful Wellness Educator at Stanford University, a General Partner at Wisdom Ventures Fund and the author with Dr. Patrick Porter of Brain Fitness Blueprint: Integrating Ancient Wisdom and Modern Technologies for Peak Performance.
After a successful 25-year corporate career at Google, Microsoft and Cisco, Ruchika is following her life’s mission to create a better world by supporting globally accessible mindfulness, compassion and wellness offerings. Her inspiration comes from leading Well Being and Mindfulness Learning Programs & Strategy for more than half of her 15 year career at Google. Ruchika successfully architected, facilitated, and curated programs for over 120,000 employees at Google. She helped establish a self-sustaining culture where tens of thousands of Googlers regularly practiced mindfulness for greater wellbeing, healthier interpersonal relationships, and sustainable high performance.
Ruchika is also a Board Member and Advisor to several nonprofits that empower women living in shelters, support the mental health of at-risk students, and provide a safe home to orphaned children around the world. She lives with her husband and two loving kids in Bay Area California.
LARA WILSON, founder of Mondiwell, is a longtime master fiction instructor and former curator of the Concord Festival of Authors.
Lara’s short fiction has been published in the The Kenyon Review, StoryQuarterly, American Fiction, Indiana Review, Confrontation, Printers Row and the Chicago Tribune Book Section, among others. Her work has been anthologized in Short Stories from Printers Row, Volume One and Hacks: 10 Years on Grub Street, as well as selected as first runner-up for the Nelson Algren Awards and the Mark Twain Award for Fiction. She was awarded a 2010 Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship and fiction scholarships from both the Bread Loaf and Sewanee Writers’ Conferences. An essay about her breast cancer journey was printed on WBUR’s Cognoscenti.
After successfully running Be Well Be Here, a 501c3 nonprofit mindful wellness educational collaborative, Lara pivoted to balance her love of sharing creative wellbeing practices, offering equine energy connection with her horses, and spending time with family, including her young grandchildren. Lara opens her heart and her home to YOU, fellow seeker of new stories.
Ready to Deepen Your Writing Life at Mondiwell?
Click the link above to submit your application and $40 fee, then EMAIL your 2-page writing sample to info@Mondiwell.com
Please share in this email details of your experiences as a writer, including past workshops, retreats and publications as well as a summary of your current writing project.
