Retreat dates are Friday, April 27, 2012 - Sunday, April 29, 2012.

Pre-Retreat Book Signing at Turn the Page Bookstore in Boonsboro, MD beginning at Noon on the 27th. 
Retreat Registration begins at 3 p.m. followed by the Welcoming Cocktail Party at 5 p.m.
Retreat ends on Sunday, April 29 at 12-12:30p.m.

The location is the Best Western Westminster, 451 WMC Drive, Westminster, Maryland 21158. 

Cost includes the retreat workshops, food and lodging:
$375 per room with roommate
$475 per single room

Cancellation Policy: Up until March 16, 2012, WRW will retain $100. No refunds will be made after that date.

Registration dates are as follows: 
* January 15 - February 15—WRW members only.
* February 16 - March 6—RWA members. 

Click here to register:  2012 Retreat Registration Form

Washington Romance Writers’ 2012 In the Company of Writers Retreat is proud to present our special guests:

NYTimes and USA Today best-selling author Robyn Carr
and
NYTimes and USA Today best-selling historical author Elizabeth Boyle.

In addition to these fabulously talented writers, WRW’s own best-selling authors Cathy Maxwell and Mary Jo Putney will be sharing their wisdom.

We are thrilled to bring you a one-time-only special two-hour interactive workshop given by our own Kathleen Gilles Seidel along with Dr. Pamela Regis, Professor of English at McDaniel College and the Vice-President of the International Association for the Study of Popular Romance called: “Death.  Really?  But I’m writing a romance!: Capturing the Power of Ritual Death”. 

There will be panel discussions and other workshops to be announced in the next few weeks. 

We are looking forward to our new venue at the Best Western Westminster (more information was provided below).

Editors are:
Jennifer Enderlin from St. Martin’s Press
Valerie Gray from Harlequin/MIRA

Agents are:
Elaine Spencer of the Knight Agency
Liza Dawson of Dawson Associates
Jill Marsal of the Marsal/Lyons Agency

We are still waiting on a few more responses. We will be filling two more editor spots and one more agent spot. I will announce them as they confirm.

So please come and join us!

Mary Lenaburg
2012 WRW Retreat Chair

Mark your calendars for the 2012 WRW retreat “In the Company of Writers”! The retreat will be held Friday, April 27 through Sunday, April 29, 2012 at a new venue, The Best Western Westminster http://www.bestwesternwestminster.com/ in Westminster, MD (30 min from Baltimore). 

We are very excited about this location and envision it to be our home for years to come.

The hotel is used by the Baltimore Ravens during their training camp at McDaniels College which is the backdrop to the hotel. (This is the same college that Nora Roberts recently endowed with an academic minor in Romance Fiction). The facilities are clean and well-kept, and the large bar area harkens back to Hilltop House. There is plenty of room for all of us to be together and quieter spots for those who wish alone time. The food selections are very flexible so those of you with special dietary needs, fear not, you will eat well. Every room comes with a fridge and microwave for those wishing to bring their own snacks. And if you forget to pack snacks, numerous supermarkets and shops are within an easy walk or drive.

We will also be able to significantly lower our retreat costs asking our members to pay $375 for a double occupancy or $475 for a single room (first come, first serve). This is a $75 dollar per member cost savings that we are so excited we get to pass along to you. Besides the cost savings, we also have some fabulous talent coming to speak, and there are rumors of a Karaoke event--but we will keep that as a surprise for later!

Questions?  Please email Mary Lenaburg, the retreat chair, at .

Directions?  The hotel’s address is 451 WMC Drive, Westminster, Maryland 21158.

Our Retreat is one of the highlights of WRW and I am hoping that by offering scholarships we can make it possible for all WRW members who want to attend the Retreat to do so.  I know that the Retreat can be a major yearly expense for many of us, and as circumstances have raised the rates over the last couple of years, we have searched for a way to enable as many members as possible to attend.  The retreat offers a chance for learning, networking and, of course, friendship.  Please consider donating to the fund for scholarships to the Retreat. 

The 2011 WRW Retreat Information is located in the Members Only Area.  Clicking this link will take you there 2011 WRW Retreat Information

2011 Washington Romance Retreat: “In the Company of Writers”

Dates: The retreat will be held the last weekend in April. April 29-May 1, 2011.

Location: Once again we will convene at Carradoc Hall in Leesburg, Virginia. The hotel includes a 1747 Mansion House adjacent to a modern Holiday Inn.  (Rumor has it there’s a ghost!) The Hotel was fully renovated a few years ago and is large enough to accommodate any member who wishes to attend, with space to spare for a few other guests (so, yes, there may be a few strangers in the hotel with us but as with this year, all the meeting spaces will be exclusively ours).

Special Guests: The line-up is always subject to change, but so far the following people will be there:

Authors:

Lori Wilde

Roxanne Rustand

Rita Winner: Kristan Higgins

NYT Bestseller: Sherrilyn Kenyon

Agents:

Elaine English - The Elaine P. English Literary Agency

Amy Boggs of Donald Maass Literary Agency

Jenny Bent of The Bent Agency

Sara Megibow of Nelson Literary Agency

Editors:

Angela James of Carina Press

Kreyren Gerlach of Harlequin

Deb Werksman of Sourcebooks

Shauna Summers of Bantam Books

Esi Sogah of Avon

With more special guests to come!

Sounds great, sign me up:Registration for the 2011 retreat is now closed.  See you in April!

Cost: $445 This covers all retreat costs including hotel room for two nights, all meals and programs.

Scholarships: The WRW Board recently named the retreat scholarship fund the Kate Duffy Memorial Scholarship fund in honor of the woman who made so many retreats so fabulous for all of us, and who helped so many of our members’ careers over the decades.  This fund will assist those members who may have trouble paying full cost for the retreat.  If you wish to donate to that fund, please go to our website and use the donation link.  If you wish to apply for a scholarship, please email Keely Thrall for more information before sending in your retreat application:  .



2011 WRW Retreat Chair
Any questions, contact Linda Heller at

Hello WRW Members! 

As you know, WRW’s 2010 “In the Company of Writers” retreat will be held April 16-18, 2010, at the Carradoc Hall Holiday Inn in Leesburg, Virginia, the same place where we held our retreat in 2009.  Registration for the retreat is closed, so those of you who missed registering this year will have to wait for the 2011 retreat next spring – watch for registration information for next year’s retreat on this website in early January 2011.

Those of you who registered for the 2010 retreat should have received an email confirmation of your registration at the end of March, and an email with details about the retreat in the first week of April.  The retreat committee has been hard at work for months in order to make this the fantastic retreat you’ve enjoyed through the years, including guest speakers Charlaine Harris, Roxanne St. Claire, Ellen Dugan and Susan Meier, editors Ginjer Buchanan (Penguin), Margo Lipschultz (Harlequin), Megan Records (Kensington), and Jessica Sebor (Bantam Dell), and agents Kevan Lyons (Marshal Lyons Agency), Alexandra Machinist (Linda Chester Agency), Elaine English (Elaine P. English Agency), and Naomi Hackenberg (Elaine P. English Agency). 

This year’s program also includes all the classic activities you’ve come to expect from a WRW retreat:  the Friday night editor and agent panel, American Author, and the fabulous, not-to-be-missed Romance Jeopardy!  For full program details, registered guests should consult your pre-retreat email (or the “RETREAT 2010 documents” link on our member page) and download all related documents using the link provided in the email.

We look forward to seeing you in Leesburg for our 2010 “In the Company of Writers” Retreat. 

Kathryn B. Anderson
2010 Retreat Chair

Hello WRW Members! 

I’m pleased to announce that registration is open for WRW’s 2010 “In the Company of Writers” retreat, which will be held April 16-18, 2010, at the Carradoc Hall Holiday Inn in Leesburg, Virginia, the same place where we held our retreat in 2009. Retreat Application form (in rich text format) [Not working? Try application in .doc format or application in .txt format]

Carradoc Hall Holiday Inn in Leesburg includes a 1747 Mansion House adjacent to a modern Holiday Inn.  The Hotel was fully renovated a few years ago and is large enough to accommodate any member who wishes to attend, with space to spare for a few other guests (so, yes, there may be a few strangers in the hotel with us).  For those of you who attended last year, the big change in 2010 is that the hotel has committed all available meeting/event space to us, so no weddings or other events will take place while we are there.  We have more space for our meetings and a dedicated dining space separate from our meeting space.  We also have a good space where we can hang out just to catch up with one another during the weekend. 

Registration will open Monday, February 15, 2010, and close Saturday, March 6, 2010.  We expect to have plenty of space for WRW members.  We will accommodate other RWA members if space allows. Registration is not open to those who are not members of WRW and/or RWA. 

The registration fee is $435. For that one fee, you get all of our fantastic programs and events, all meals from Friday dinner through Sunday breakfast, and your room on Friday and Saturday nights.  Each room features two double beds and will accommodate two people. (New this year – pay for Retreat via PayPal. See below for button.) Retreat Application form (in rich text format).

The retreat committee is already hard at work to make this the fantastic retreat you’ve enjoyed through the years.  We’ll have a great group of guest speakers, including Charlaine Harris, Roxanne St. Claire, Susan Meier, and Author and Garden Witch Ellen Dugan.  Editors and agents are still responding to our invitation, but the list so far includes Jennifer Enderlin (St. Martin’s Press), Lucia Macro (Avon), Ginjer Buchanan (Penguin USA), Megan Records (Kensington), two Harlequin editors, Elaine English (Elaine P. English PLLC Literary), and Kevan Lyon (Marsal-Lyon Literary).  We also have both informative and fun activities you’ve come to expect from a WRW retreat, including the Friday night editor and agent panel, American Author, and the fabulous, not-to-be-missed Romance Jeopardy!

The WRW Board recently named the retreat scholarship fund the Kate Duffy Scholarship fund in honor the woman who made so many retreats so fabulous for all of us, and who helped so many of our members’ careers over the decades.  This fund will assist those members who may have trouble paying full cost for the retreat.  If you wish to donate to that fund, please go to our website and use the donation link.  If you wish to apply for a scholarship, please email for more information before sending in your retreat application.

Remember, you MUST submit an application by March 6, 2010 to attend this year’s retreat.  Also, you will need to state a roommate preference.  If you don’t have a clue about who to share with, leave it blank and the retreat committee’s room list goddess will match you up with someone.

We look forward to seeing you in Leesburg for our 2010 “In the Company of Writers” Retreat. 

2010 Retreat Chair

This year, we are making payment by paypal an option for an additional fee of $10 to cover paypal costs.  If paying by paypal, please use this link, and then list your paypal receipt number on the application you send in. We expect to have plenty of space for WRW members.  We will accommodate other RWA members if space allows. Registration is not open to those who are not members of WRW and/or RWA.

Download Retreat Application form (in rich text format).

WRW’s 2009 “In the Company of Writers” retreat will be held April 17-19, 2009, at the Carradoc Hall Holiday Inn in Leesburg, Virginia. Retreat Application Form in rich text format (or try this one, in .doc form)

Carradoc Hall Holiday Inn includes a 1747 Mansion House adjacent to a modern Holiday Inn.  The Hotel was fully renovated a couple years ago and is large enough to accommodate any member who wishes to attend, with space to spare for other guests (so, yes, we will be sharing the hotel with a few other guests).  We believe that you’ll find this hotel more accommodating to our retreat feel – a place where we can go and spend time with our fellow writing friends.  The building is set up in such a way that we’ll all be in one building and you won’t have to go outside unless you want to hang out on the covered balcony where we’ll have our opening reception or watch the sun set from the Cracker Barrel rockers on the porch.  All the sleeping rooms are in the modern hotel, but we will have some of our events in the connected historic manor house.  The old house is charming and adds some nice historic character to the site. 

Registration opened Friday, January 16, 2009, and closed Saturday, February 21, 2009.

The registration fee will be $435. For that one fee, you get all of our fantastic programs and events, all meals from Friday dinner through Sunday breakfast, and your room on Friday and Saturday nights.  Each room features two double beds and will accommodate two people. 

The retreat committee is already hard at work to make this the fantastic retreat you’ve enjoyed through the years.  We’ll have a great group of guest speakers, including Carla Neggers and Karen Marie Moning.  Editors and agents are still responding to our invitation, but the list so far includes Helen Breitweiser (Cornerstone Literary, Inc.), Kate Duffy (Kensington Books), Jennifer Enderlin (St. Martin’s Press), Elaine English (Elaine P. English PLLC Literary), Tracy Farrell (Harlequin), Meg Ruley (Jane Rotrosen Agency), Irene Goodman (Irene Goodman Literary Agency), Deb Werksman (Sourcebooks, Inc.), and Angela James (Samhain Publishing, Ltd.). We also have both informative and fun activities you’ve come to expect from a WRW retreat, including the Friday night editor and agent panel, American Author, and the fabulous, not-to-be-missed Romance Jeopardy!

This year the WRW Board decided to enable our members to donate to a scholarship fund to assist those members who may have trouble paying full cost for the retreat.  If you wish to donate to that fund, please go to our website and use the donation link.  If you wish to apply for a scholarship, please email Lavinia Klein () for more information before sending in your retreat application.

Remember, there is no waiting list, so no need to rush your application in on the first day, but you MUST submit an application by February 21, 2009 to be part of this year’s retreat.  Also, you will need to state a roommate preference.  If you don’t have a clue about who to share with, leave it blank and the retreat committee’s room list goddess will match you up with someone.

We look forward to seeing you in Leesburg for our 2009 “In the Company of Writers” Retreat. 

Kathryn B. Anderson
2009 Retreat Chair

Happy New Year!

I’m pleased to announce that WRW’s 2009 “In the Company of Writers” retreat will be held April 17-19, 2009, at the Carradoc Hall Holiday Inn in Leesburg, Virginia.

In preparation for the 2009 retreat, we read through all the feedback after the Bolger Center retreat and decided to investigate other possibilities.  In May, we sent out a formal Request for Proposals to a list of venues, and received several replies.  We traveled to many of those locations, and the Board decided that the best location for our 2009 retreat is the Carradoc Hall Holiday Inn in Leesburg, a 1747 Mansion House adjacent to a modern Holiday Inn.  The Hotel was fully renovated a couple years ago and is large enough to accommodate any member who wishes to attend, with space to spare for other guests (so, yes, we will be sharing the hotel with a few other guests).  We believe that you’ll find this hotel more accommodating to our retreat feel – a place where we can go and spend time with our fellow writing friends. 

Carradoc Hall is set up in such a way that we’ll all be in one building and you won’t have to go outside unless you want to hang out on covered balcony where we’ll have our opening reception or watch the sun set from the Cracker Barrel rockers on the porch.  All the sleeping rooms are in the modern hotel, but we will have some of our events in the connected historic manor house.  The old house is charming and adds some nice historic character to our retreat. 

Registration will open in mid-January and close in February.  Exact dates will be published on the website in early January, but tentatively you should expect registration to start on or around January 15 and close sometime between February 19 and 29.  Since we have enough space for everyone, exact dates should be less important than in prior years, but you should plan to submit your application and fee during that registration time period.  I’ll send out an announcement on the announce loop when the registration information and form are published on our website, so watch for that announcement in a week or so!

The registration fee will be $435.  I know that fee may sound like a lot, but most other events of this caliber charge a large registration fee on top of which you must pay for your room and many of your meals yourself.  Our registration fee is all-inclusive.  For that one fee, you get all of our fantastic programs and events, all meals from Friday dinner through Sunday breakfast, and your room on Friday and Saturday nights.  Each room features two double beds and will accommodate two people.  Pease plan your roommate choice now so you are ready when you complete your registration form. 

The retreat committee is already hard at work to make this the fantastic retreat you’ve enjoyed through the years.  We’ll have a great group of guest speakers, editors and agents, plus all the informative and fun activities you’ve come to expect from a WRW retreat, including the Friday night editor and agent panel, American Author, and the fabulous, not-to-be-missed Romance Jeopardy!

This year the WRW Board decided to enable our members to donate to a scholarship fund to assist those members who may have trouble paying full cost for the retreat.  Details on how you can donate to the scholarship are on this page.  Someone from the Board should announce more information about how to apply for a scholarship later in January.

Additionally, as you plan your retreat and conference budget for 2009, please keep in mind that RWA will be in Washington, DC, this year, so you won’t have huge travel costs to attend RWA if that is part of your regular writing conference schedule. 

For those who are curious, Hilltop House remains closed as its new owners work on restoring the old hotel.  Their plans at this time are to reopen as a first class destination hotel and spa in 2011.  We have no way of knowing if the renovated Hilltop will meet our needs or price range, but we will continue to monitor the situation. 

We look forward to seeing you in Leesburg for our 2009 “In the Company of Writers” Retreat. 

Kathryn B. Anderson
2009 Retreat Chair