Prof. Jenny O’Connell, MFA & Prof. Philip Francis, PhD.

In this three-week course we will explore the rich creative landscape at the confluence of writing and the outdoors. We’ll combine reflective study of craft with generative writing exercises, philosophy of wintering and adventure in snow and ice. Our stories live in our bodies, and thus the time we spend outside learning new skills, expanding our winter comfort zones, and cultivating our awareness of the natural world will enhance our narratives and help to bring our writing to life. In this course, all genres are welcome, and creative experimentation is encouraged. You do not need to identify as a writer to be successful in this course; you need only to come with an open mind and a set of questions that you’re hungry to explore through the filter of creative writing. 

Most writing sessions will include creative warm-ups, discussion of craft through the lens of a mentor text (or song), extended writing time to deepen into creative flow, and an opportunity to share excerpts of your work with peers. We’ll devote time to reading and performing our work aloud, with the goal of developing the confidence to speak our words into the world with power.

Through creative prompts, inspired readings, and class discussions we will examine craft tools such as voice, setting, characterization, sensory description, narrative arc, and revision. By the end of the second week, you’ll choose one piece to workshop in a group setting. You’ll then revise with peer and faculty feedback and present at our own little winter festival during week three of the program. You will leave the course with a new body of work inspired by themes of wintering, a greater command of craft, one or more polished pieces, and the inspiration to continue to nurture your writing practice in all seasons.

Get cozy around the fire in Seguinland’s post-and-beam lodge.

Drink warm libations & sip piping hot soup. 

Participate in daily faculty-led creative writing workshops.

Mull inspired daily readings on winter, creativity & the good life.  

Enjoy reflective conversations with like-minded gap year winter-ers.

Write from the hearth of your soul. 

Connect to nature as a source of grounding, insight and contemplation (ALL experperiences doable by novices!)

Learn skills from expert guides for thriving outdoors in winter.

Dog sled, snow shoe and cross country ski through Maine forests.

Build a quinzhee, make snow angels, ice skate & ice fish for lunch.

Re-wild yourself a bit, find new reserves of strength; write about it.

Have the greatest toboggan run of your life.

Co-create an inclusive, growth-oriented community of writers & creatives.

Explore, discover & expand your capacity for creative expression.

Learn new creative writing techniques and hone your craft.

Take the pressure off and just write for the love of it.

Share your work in a supportive atmosphere.

Write (and live) into the questions.

Participate in daily mindfulness practices.

Channel your instincts for wintertime restoration.

Move from fractured attention to deeper awareness.

Explore your inner landscape.

Practice yoga in a treehouse-classroom.

Harness mindfulness to bring more creative depth to your writing.

SPACIOUS REFLECTION: We create an environment in which students can think deeply about questions of the good life and begin to discern their own calling: “...the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet,” in the words of Frederick Buechner.

NATURE IMMERSION: We encourage students to connect to nature as a source of grounding, contemplation, insight and joy. Students live on campus here in the coastal woodlands of Maine. They learn to identify trees and plants, hike the preserves, and camp on the Maine Island Trail. Students slow down, sync up with nature and come to recognize their reciprocity with the earth.

INSPIRED ACADEMICS: Our programs are saturated with ideas to live by. We create a retreat-like setting, alive with creative thinking, good books and lively discussion. Our professors guide students through reflective exercises, facilitated conversations and immersive experiences in a non-ideological, non-dogmatic way. All courses at Seguinland Institute bear college credit through our affiliation with UMaine Farmington.

MINDFULNESS: We try to create a context in which students can cultivate the inner resources necessary for personal and community-oriented thriving. This includes daily mindfulness practice: the development of skills for calming and focusing the mind, knitting together fractured attention spans, and learning to sit with mystery.

CREATIVE ARTS: Creativity is the lifeblood of human thriving–for individuals and communities. Too many believe that creativity is the domain of the select few, “the artists”. We create space for all students to explore and expand their innate capacities for creative expression.

BACK TO THE LAND: Our campus is on the site of an old family homestead. In this spirit, we grow some of our own food and try “to live sanely and simply in a troubled world,” to quote Helen & Scott Nearing. We encourage students to grapple with the interconnections between the good life and the food life, as so many pressing issues of our time are food-related: climate change, health, inequality.

THE GOOD LIFE FOR ALL: Questions of the good life for one are inseparable from questions of the good life for all. We encourage our students to recognize that their own well-being is tied up with that of everyone else’s. We seek to instill in our students the skills to build strong and inclusive communities in the 21st Century.