Write By-the-Sea: Mindfulness & Mysticism to Deepen Your Writing Practice

Come together in a welcoming community of writers and seekers interested in deepening their creative process through mindfulness, alchemy and all things Divine. We’ll gather on Eastern Point in Gloucester to draw inspiration from the Atlantic Ocean and explore intuitive ways to integrate the soul, sacred, and Spirit into the storytelling process.

In this safe, collaborative space, we’ll examine creative ways to incorporate mindfulness into your writing practice, discover new strategies to overcome creative blocks, and be inspired to imbue your writing with deeper meaning. We’ll delve deep into our inner landscapes through guided meditations to awaken our creativity. Then, we’ll turn outward to explore the cosmos and learn how astrology and personal alchemy can inform the characters in our stories as well as the deeper purpose of our work.

Whether you’re a fiction or nonfiction writer, these interactive discovery sessions will boost your creativity and reinvigorate your mindset. Learn how to integrate mindfulness, meditation, astrology, oracle cards, art, poetry, and nature to unlock and connect with your story. Come away with renewed clarity and confidence, ready to harness the creative energy of the universe.

Set on the scenic coastline with a view of the Eastern Point Lighthouse, this retreat is led by Candace Coakley and Margaret McNellis, writers and experts trained in guiding others on mindful and mystical journeys. Together, we’ll explore how to make intuitive connections that will take your writing to the next level.

Bring a notebook or laptop and an open mind. Come prepared to create, meditate, and manifest the writing life of your dreams.

Do you have a story burning deep inside that you’d like to craft? Do you want to write a book but aren’t sure where to begin? Have you started to write a memoir or novel but feel stuck? In the workshop, we will explore how meditation can be a tool for achieving your writing goals.

Candace will explore the meaningful intersection between writing and mindfulness. Adopting a peaceful mindset can help you make intuitive connections and deepen your story. Committing to a mindful approach is a transformative process that will strengthen the central argument of your novel or memoir and empower you to write forward with confidence.

Come away with ideas and inspiration for how to incorporate meditation into your writing practice and make an action plan to finish your memoir or novel. Building a mindfulness practice doesn’t have to be complicated or stressful. This workshop provides curated tips, best practices, and resources to explore creativity and mindful living.

Margaret designed a five-card oracle spread to help creatives, especially writers, uncover the true nature of creative blocks and a path to healing that block.

The best thing about oracle cards? No memorization needed! They have powerful messages on the cards, and booklets for seeking deeper meaning. Margaret will bring an oracle deck for each participant to borrow as she teaches this spread and leads you through using the cards, along with journal prompts and meditation, to work toward healing creative blocks.

As a writer, one of the biggest obstacles you may face is the dreaded writer's block. It can be frustrating and overwhelming when you're staring at a blank page not knowing where to begin. Candace and Margaret will share tips and techniques to unleash your creativity and get those words flowing.

In this hands-on interactive workshop, we’ll use paint and pencils to map our way out of stuckness. Since no two writers are on the same path, we’ll customize a plan for actionable ways to use what works for YOU. Learn how to incorporate and practice strategies including mindmapping, journaling, listing, poetry, reading, collaging, painting, drawing, music, and other creative ways to get yourself unstuck. Bring your own success stories and best practices to share.

Margaret will show you how the planets, luminaries, and other points in the sky can help you not only develop your story, but also develop yourself as a writer. We'll go beyond the horoscope to discover how astrology can help you unlock your writing. For participants who would like a complimentary write up on their birth chart, they'll be invited to share their birth data with Margaret (up to a week before the retreat).

Throughout the retreat, we'll pause to give you time to reflect and write during and in between workshop sessions.

Candace is a writing coach, developmental editor, and mindfulness mentor. She is passionate about helping others make meaning of their lives and share their wisdom through writing.

With over twenty-five years of writing and editing experience, she founded Candace Coakley Editorial Solutions to help writers clarify their ideas and bring their stories to life. She provides guidance and structure and has helped hundreds of writers craft authentic, empowered stories and achieve their writing and publishing goals.

Candace graduated from Boston College and holds an M.A. from Emerson College in Boston. She is an Author Accelerator-certified book coach in fiction, nonfiction, and memoir. Her range of editorial and coaching services includes all steps of the process from idea generation to publication. She approaches each project with complete focus and fierce dedication to client success.

She is a graduate of Grub Street’s Memoir Incubator. She has also studied with memoir expert Marion Roach Smith and mastered the art of Story with Robert McKee. She has written one memoir and is currently writing another about Hope and Healing.

Candace has cultivated a strong mindfulness meditation practice over the past 30 years and teaches creative writing workshops on memoir and mindfulness. She is a certified Mindfulness Mentor trained by renowned teachers including Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach. She became certified in Transcendental Meditation (TM) in 1994 and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) in 2014. She currently practices Vipassana / Insight meditation and is a member of local and global Sanghas. She is a Reiki Master and uses the power of healing as the basis for all she does.

She grew up North of Boston and loves spending her summers in Gloucester. Her earliest childhood memories are playing in the fog on Long Beach and contemplating parallel universes. Candace lives in Winchester, MA with her husband, David, their dog, Hope, and three young adult children. Her favorite time of year is when her extended family gathers on Eastern Point each summer and walks to the end of the Breakwater. For more info, please visit www.candacecoakley.com.

Margaret is an author, editor, and mystic.

She writes historical fiction, historical fantasy, and retellings, with the occasional romantasy, poetry, and creative nonfiction thrown into the mix. Margaret holds a B.A. in art history, an M.A. in English & creative writing, and an MFA in fiction, as well as a graduate certificate in teaching composition. She taught for four years at the college level.

Her debut novel, The Red Fletch, was published in 2021 to critical acclaim as book one of her Robin Hood retelling series, Heroes of Sherwood. Book two, Outlawed, came out in 2023. Her next book, a standalone novel set against the backdrop of Ancient Rome & Britannia, comes out May 21, 2024 (Daughter of the Seven Hills). Margaret has written and published several short stories, one of which won the Student Fiction prize in 2019 for Assignment Magazine.

In her editing work, Margaret offers developmental and line editing services.

As a mystic, Margaret works primarily with astrology and cartomancy, but also enjoys numerology and a myriad of additional practices. She trained with Rebecca Campbell's Inner Temple Mystery School and is pursuing certification from Astrology University, which offers a 36-course program. She is an alumna of The Magickal Path School, where she completed her year-and-a-day witchcraft training as well as a six-month independent study course in planetary magick.

Margaret co-hosts the This Magickal Life podcast and teaches workshops both online and in-person at House of the Triple Moon in Essex, CT, primarily about the nexus of creativity and the mystical arts.

In her spare time, Margaret enjoys drawing, baking breads & desserts, going for nature walks, and playing with the family dog. For more info, please visit www.margaretmcnellis.com.

Image credit: Candace Coakley. Eastern Point Lighthouse.

Host or Publisher Candace Coakley and Margaret McNellis