“You are an inspiring teacher, a courageous writer and gifted facilitator… a master of helping people to feel at home and take risks on the page. Thank you for your warm heart.” —Jennifer Cunningham & Leo Figgs
“I’ve been so happy to participate in your writing workshops. I feel very much a part of the process, and the baseline is warm and secure, allowing room for all to express themselves.” —Regina Gilligan
“Sarah used her deep connection to, and understanding of, this earth’s natural processes to keep bringing us back to what is most important in life. The workshop brought me back to myself in a way I could not have done by myself. I will take the experience with me…and it will sustain me until the next time. I will remember this time with great fondness and a feeling of being welcomed, accepted and included without judgment.” —Jane Christmas
“Sarah is a brilliant and wise teacher of both writing & visual art.” —DK
“I come for what you give: permission to explore, muse, ponder, take time, scribble, stretch—all good things. It is nourishing and I feel more confident about writing at the end of the retreat. I am deeply grateful for your attention, presence, care.” —JB
“The retreat was a wonderful mix of writing and reading and hearing the words of other writers—from books and from my classmates around the table.” —SK
“It has been a fantastic experience. The tools we’ve been given—the prompts and the techniques—are things I wouldn’t have thought of applying to my writing. The retreat has been a great help to me, and I look forward to coming back to this magical place/magical people in the future.” —AS
“The readings and poetry you selected were inspiring as always. Your ability to create a week seemingly on the spot, just for us, is truly amazing.” —JB
“I really enjoyed the variety of readings from your collections of poems & stories. I especially liked the prompts that allowed us to wander off into nature.” —DH
“Your approach to making this a retreat rather than a workshop was exactly right for me. Your prompts were super evocative and I loved the invitation to subvert assignments.” —KM
“Thank you, A+, wonderful! What a gift this retreat has been.” —CM
“Thank you so much for setting an open, welcoming, supportive, enriching tone right from the beginning of this retreat. The many short prompts helped me get my brain and pen moving. Thank you for your lending library: it was such a fantastic resource!” —AS
“Your writing workshop was easily one of my favorite five-day spans of the past few years.” —KER
“What an incredible opportunity to go through prompt after prompt, and have someone else provide the material and keep time. Very rich and wonderful.” —CR
“Sarah’s teaching style is a perfect balance of skill and technique with personal feelings.” —AB
“Thanks again for the energy, passion and skill you put into your workshop and also your talent at drawing lessons and inspiration from nature.” —RE
“Sarah knows how to push writers to the edge of their creativity. We wrote more in two days than I have done in the past year.” —LCB
“Thank you, Sarah. I didn’t know poems could be pulled out of me in such a short time.” —FC
“This was a beautifully conceived workshop.” —C
“Sarah’s thoughtful, thorough preparation really paid off. I think we all made amazing progress toward our writing objectives in just three short days, with good suggestions for the future.” —AB
“I learned not only how to experience and document nature but to do it without inhibition and with a more focused power of observation.” —CZ
“This class was great in the sense that it has instilled in me the idea of a journal being used to induce ‘wakefulness.’ Sarah helped in this process by being the gentle and inventive person that she is.” —JME
“I consider what I’ve received from this class a watershed event in my life: a new way to look at the world, and in particular a new way to portray the world around me.” —DW