Jason Sitzes, left, director of the Writers Retreat Workshop, makes a point during a small group critique session June 14.

            Aspiring writers from across the nation and a few foreign countries arrived in Maple Mount on June 10 for 10 days of putting their words on the whetstone.
            The Writers Retreat Workshop is at the Mount Saint Joseph Conference and Retreat Center for the first time, but the group hopes to make it a permanent home. The workshop focuses on story development to help writers improve and complete their novels for publication, said Jason Sitzes, director.
            The members of the workshop get homework assignments to work on character development and work in critique groups during their 10 days, Sitzes said. “We bring in industry professionals from New York to give them a sense of the business side,” he said. On June 13, Kristin Sevick, an editor with Tor/Forge (Macmillan Publishing) in New York spoke to the group, and Katharine Sands, a literary agent, is also talking this week.
            The workshop began in 1987, designed by Gary Provost, an author and writing teacher. Provost died in 1995, but his wife Gail Provost Stockwell continued the program, turning over the administrative duties to Sitzes in 2003. She is in Maple Mount with the 30 participants, and recalled how the workshop got its start.
            “Gary had gone to Maine with a small group of students for screenwriting,” Stockwell said. “He decided he would love to have a small group of writers working on novels.”
            Some of the graduates of the workshop have gone on to become published authors, and some of those come back to offer their advice to the new classes. Janet Chapman, a best-selling romance novelist ( “Wedding the Highlander,” “Moonlight Warrior”) and Michael Palmer, who writes best-selling thrillers (“The Last Surgeon,” “Miracle Cure,”) are two of the authors speaking to the class members this week.

Deb Rosen, center, from Milford, Conn., listens to the critique of one of her classmates’ work during a critique session June 14 at the Mount Saint Joseph Conference and Retreat Center.

            Lorin Oberweger, editorial director, found the Retreat Center on the Internet and was impressed with the pictures and information. Participants have been impressed with the facilities and the food.
            Typically the group does one 10-day workshop a year, and then a fall retreat in either New England or in the Southwest, Sitzes said. Most of the participants are fiction writers, but a few are creative nonfiction writers, he said. Participants are from as far away as California and New York City, as well as Mexico, England, and Malaysia.
            “This is a unique workshop in its length,” Sitzes said. “This has been life for these folks. It’s the magic of what happens here.”
            The participants all aspire to be published, but they are aware that being a full-time professional writer is tough, Sitzes said.
            “Even back in ’87, agents made it clear that writing is a strange business,” Stockwell said. “I think there will always be opportunities for writers.”
            Many of the participants come back multiple years. About 20 of the 30 members this year have been before, Sitzes said.
            One of those who returned for her second year is Deb Rosen, from Milford, Conn. She’s been a graphic designer for 20 years, but decided a few years ago to spend the summer writing a story with her 8-year-old son. “I spent that year writing, but I realized I didn’t know how to tell a story,” she said.
            She came to the workshop last year to absorb all she could. “You’ve got all these people who will read your stuff,” Rosen said. “I had no point of view – now I have everybody’s point of view.”
            She needed help with scene structure, and returned this year to work on creating more powerful scenes. “It’s about a young boy; whatever he draws comes to life. And he draws dragons,” Rosen said. “His dragon is his spirit guide.”
            Sitzes said Rosen is an example of a participant whose writing has improved between her first year and this year.
            Every so often, her son comes to her and says “put this in the story,” Rosen said. “I wrote a new ending when I got here, I called and told him.” Her son is now 10, and she’s noticed how much his writing in school has changed since she began. “I just wanted to write a good story, but he wants it published, that’s why I came. I knew I’d get support here.”
            To learn more, and to consider registering for next year’s workshop, visit www.writersretreatworkshop.com. A scholarship is available.