The Northwest Arkansas Writers Advance is held at the Courey House at the Subiaco Abbey, in Subiaco, Arkansas. Subiaco is a Benedictine monastery and the guesthouse is a ministry of the monastery.

You can learn more about the Abbey at their website: www.CountryMonks.org.

If you’re flying in, you can fly to Northwest Arkansas National airport, or the smaller airports in Little Rock or Fort Smith. You will need to rent a car to get from the airport to the Abbey.

The venue is located at a rural abbey. You can fly to Northwest Arkansas National airport or the smaller airports in Little Rock or Fort Smith. You will need to rent a car to get from the airport to the Abbey. What about carpooling? That’s a possibility depending on who else is coming and when they are arriving. If you are flying in and would prefer to carpool, email me and let me know. While I can’t guarantee anything, I’ll try to help connect you with others interested in sharing a vehicle. It will work best if you make this request before finalizing your flight information since we’ll need to coordinate arrival times.

This is an all-inclusive retreat. Registration includes a private room with a personal bathroom, linens and towels, delicious natural meals made from scratch on-site for every meal, all the coffee, tea, and snacks you need to sustain you. Optional one-on-one coaching is included and you’ll find the environment encouraging and supportive with gentle accountability to focus on your writing.

Plans change. Life happens. That’s all understandable. You’re considering putting down a hefty deposit on an event, and undoubtedly you want to know what happens if you can’t attend. So, here’s the policy and options.

1. Due to the nature of events like this, deposits are not refundable.

2. If your plans change, you can move your reservation to a future event or transfer the deposit to someone else. You can request this change up to 30 days before the event. There is no charge for this change. After that point, your deposit goes to reserve your room and pay for catering. Even if you can’t come, it is no longer an option to move your registration to a future event.

3. If an unexpected family or health emergency comes up within that 30-day window and you cannot attend, I can roll your registration forward if you or I can find someone else to take your spot. There are two options for this. First, you could donate your deposit toward their cost with them agreeing to pay the balance. In this case, your deposit goes to them, and you are no longer registered for the event. Alternatively, if they are willing to pay the same price you paid for the event (Deposit+Balance Due), I will roll your deposit & registration forward to a future event. If I have people on a waiting list, I may be able to provide this service, but I can’t guarantee that I’ll have a waiting list. If you need to do this email me at marc@marcalanschelske.com to get the process started. This option does not apply if you forget to attend or miss the event for other non-emergency reasons.

4. If something happens outside of my control that forces the event to be canceled, I will notify you as soon as possible and give you the option to roll your registration & deposit forward to any future event at the current rate.