Time apart, on purpose.

I lead retreats for people making something true — a book, a body of work, a decision, a second half of life.

The days are built the way a good poem is built: enough structure to hold you, enough silence to surprise you. We work mornings, walk afternoons, and read aloud at night. There is guided writing, one-on-one conversation, and real rest.

The ground under all of it is contemplative. I trained at a seminary before I ever ran a press, and I still keep a daily practice; discernment — the slow separating of the true voice from the loud ones — is the discipline these days are arranged around. You don't need to share my faith to come. You need only be willing to listen.

"His ability to create a lively community of literary authors and their supporters… remains charged and fueled years after his departure from that particular scene."

— Anis Shivani, author of The Fifth Lash and Other Stories, on Chad's years leading C&R Press