New For 2026
The History of Children’s Literature
Gary Schmidt
Thursdays, January 14 - March 4, 2026
7:00-8:30 PM EST | Online | Workshop recorded
Level: All Levels
This workshop is sold out, but we have so much interest that we will open a new session if 12 people register for the waitlist. Please sign up for the waitlist if you’d like to participate.
Are you interested in exploring and understanding children’s literature more deeply? Perhaps you’re feeling uninspired in this moment in history, and you’re looking for new ways to access your craft. Maybe you seek a little bit of both.
Here at Whale Rock we regularly turn to mentor texts as part of our curriculum. In January 2026 we're taking mentor texts to a whole new level. Join Gary Schmidt for eight weeks as he brings his many years' of experience teaching literature to both undergraduates and to MFA students to explore the history of children's literature through your lens as a children's author or illustrator.
You’ll walk away with a deeper understanding of the purpose children's literature has served both for young readers and for the culture as a whole, personal insight into your role as a children's author at this moment in time, and new story ideas and inspiration
The Page Turner's Toolbox: Revising for tension and flow
Chris Tebbetts
Thursdays, February 5 - March 5, 2026 (no workshop February 19)
7:00-8:30 PM EST | Online | Workshop recorded
Level: All levels
Join best-selling author and teacher Chris Tebbetts for this four-week generative, craft-focused workshop that will focus on tools and techniques for creating stories that keep readers engaged and … well … turning pages.
We’ll kick of our workshop with sentence level-revisions and subsequent sessions will examine scene-level, story-level, and thematic revisions. The final session will include additional time for an optional open mike and sharing of work.
Perfect for authors who wish to tighten their prose, figure out plotting, and/or who gravitate towards propulsive, immersive, and fast-reading fiction. You’ll walk away with newfound revision skills that include knowing how to keep your readers turning those pages, the ability to spot redundancies, the ability to make your prose work for your story and more.
The Short Novel
Gary Schmidt & Shelley Tanaka
Sundays, Sunday, Feb 8, 2026, 3:00 PM EST – Wednesday, Aug 26, 2026, 5:00 PM EDT
See description for schedule breakdown | Online | Workshop recorded
Level: Advanced
Short novels are in demand. Teachers want them, librarians want them, and kids want them. And yet authors continue to churn out 200-page-plus books for young readers.
In this new and unique offering, beloved faculty members Gary Schmidt and Shelley Tanaka will walk you through the process of writing a short novel (approximately 80-120 pages) from beginning to end. That’s right, you will come up with a novel premise and by the end of the workshop you should be able to write the full manuscript with the help of these two amazing mentors.
We can only accept ten students for this intensive workshop. Registration opens December 1, 2025.
2025 Curriculum
Fall 2025 Write Now!
WHEN: September 17 - December 18, 2025
Wednesday & Thursday mornings
10:00 AM - 12:30 PM ET
PLEASE NOTE: There is no Write Now! on:
Wednesday, September 24
Thursday, October 2
Thursday, October 23
There may be some schedule changes or cancellations during our Maryland retreats. More details to follow.
WHERE: Online
There’s nothing like a regular meeting time and space to keep your writing commitments honest. Our Write Now! groups are FREE and offer the support you need to show up and work each week. (Note: You must be a newsletter subscriber to participate in Write Now!)
Fall 2025 Write Night!
WHEN: September 16 - December 16, 2025
Tuesday evenings 7:30 PM - 9:30 PM ET
There may be some schedule changes or cancellations during our Maryland retreats. More details to follow.
WHERE: Online
There’s nothing like a regular meeting time and space to keep your writing commitments honest. Write Night! offers the same creative space and community of Write Now! - reimagined to spark evening energy.
Every Tuesday, we will kick off the night with conversation - sharing goals, questions, book recommendations and more. Weekly prompts will be designed to jumpstart ideas, and from there, we will log off and begin writing. Write Night! is intentionally open-ended, giving writers time to remain in flow state if desired, and flexibility to write for as long as they’d like (or as long as they can stay awake).
Our Write Now! groups are FREE and offer the support you need to show up and work each week. (Note: You must be a newsletter subscriber to participate in Write Now!)
Caboose Retreat Week 1
DATES: November 2 - November 7, 2025
WHERE: Sabillasville, MD
SPECIAL GUESTS: Senior Charlesbridge editor Karen Boss & Patricia Lee Gauch
THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL
Join Whale Rock Workshops faculty Kathryn Erskine and Gary Schmidt plus special guests Senior Charlesbridge editor Karen Boss, and founding faculty member Patricia Lee Gauch for a cozy writing retreat in Sabillasville, MD. Make lifelong writer friends with this six-day, five-night getaway. Faculty and writers will cook together, eat together, walk together, laugh together, and of course write together.
Payment plans are available for this program. Email us for more information.
Caboose Retreat Week 2
DATES: November 9 - November 14, 2025
WHERE: Sabillasville, MD
SPECIAL GUEST: Agent Miranda Paul, Aevitas Creative
THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL
Join Whale Rock Workshops faculty Liz Bicknell, Kathryn Erskine and Gary Schmidt along with special guest Aevitas Creative literary agent Miranda Paul for a cozy writing retreat in Sabillasville, MD. Make lifelong writer friends with this six-day, five-night getaway. Faculty and writers will cook together, eat together, walk together, laugh together, and of course write together.
Payment plans are available for this program. Email us for more information.