Dear Getaway Participant,
All good things must end. The Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway has never been a money maker, but this past year left me with a considerable personal loss. Although I haven’t raised the tuition in three years, I realized I could not hold another Getaway without raising the tuition a lot. So after 18 years, I decided to call it quits.
I started to draft a letter telling you the bad news, and Amanda started to send out her resume to look for a new job. We were both brokenhearted. Despite making this decision, we kept looking for ways to make the Getaway sustainable for me and affordable for you. We eventually asked, “What if we put everything on the table?” A different Getaway would be better than no Getaway at all.
With this in mind, I approached Richard Stockton College to see if they would be interested in partnering with me. Stockton recently purchased Seaview, a historic four-star resort outside Atlantic City with gobs of guest rooms and meeting space. They also completed a $15 million renovation making the place quite spiffy.
Stockton is giving us its enthusiastic support, so the Getaway will continue. Although the location will differ, the Getaway will still have the same wonderful spirit and the things you love most including:
- The challenging and supportive atmosphere that fosters your best writing
- Generous and helpful instruction from our award-winning writing faculty
- The solitude and melancholic beauty of the shore in winter
- A fantastic community of writers
- Terrific restaurants nearby
- My bad puns
→ Check out our fun facts about Seaview
All good things in life must change. We know this is a surprise and you may want to voice your feelings, so we’ve set up a forum for you to do so. After all, we are a community. Leave your comments below.
The Getaway will continue to be the same energizing and nurturing weekend you look forward to each year. Look for an email at the end of August when registration kicks off. If you have enjoyed the Getaway and benefited from the workshops and instruction, please take this leap with us. I hope to see you on January 13, 2012 at our new home.
Warmest,
Peter
PS – Save the Date – We are planning a Getaway reunion in Philly on Friday, September 16. Details here.
PPS – We don’t have current email addresses for all of our past participants. If you think we missed someone, please pass this note on to them.