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The Wayward Wormhole lands in Spain

Information about the Wayward Wormhole Intensive Writing Workshop

There’s a stillness atop Sant Bartomeu hill that settles my bones and calms my brain. At 998 meters above sea level, I lean against a centuries-old stone wall, part of the Castell de Llaés, and look across the fields below. Thirty-nine km to the right is a second hill of 1025 meters, where I can see remains of the castle of Besora as it sits alone with its past. In the other direction, at 961 meters, sits the medieval remains of Castell de Milany. With the slightest effort, I lower a cellophane sheet over the scene and add people in tunics walking with horses wearing baroque saddles. A second overlay adds dusk and wispy tendrils of cloud to the picture. Torches flare along the castle walls to both sides of me, and the glow of a central fire, ready to send messages across the gap between them as night descends. -Janet K. Smith

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"For anyone who finds Cat Rambo’s online classes helpful, the Wayward Wormhole is the Rambo Academy on steroids. The instructors were not only brilliant writers but also experienced teachers adept at leading seminar-level classes and providing one-on-one guidance. They shared a wealth of insights into the business side of being a fiction writer. For those wary of traditional critique circles, Wayward Wormhole relies on a far more useful approach to supply writers with feedback that is both helpful and kind. I came home with sparkling ideas for improving four short stories, three of which I wrote from start to finish during the workshop. Bonus: The Wayward Wormhole sent out tapes of the classroom lectures and discussions one can revisit afterwards."

~Rosemary Claire Smith

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Why The Wayward Wormhole Believes in "Destination Workshops"

The Wayward Wormhole Barbados 2026

May Blog

Why do we insist on creating “destination workshops?” We believe personal experiences add interesting elements that ring with authenticity to a writer’s worldbuilding. Here are a few things I wouldn’t have learned about Barbados by doing research online.

  1. Barbados is a coral island with over eighty-five percent of the island’s surface composed of coralline limestone. How does this affect daily life? It turns out that this coral bed keeps pushing upward, making it difficult to maintain the roads. As we traveled around the island, we encountered major thoroughfares closed off because a shift in the coralline caused the road to collapse. Potholes were everywhere. The locals would swerve or suddenly dropped their speed to save wear and tear on their vehicles. Repairs were constant, yet the potholes and collapses kept happening—usually in the same spots.
  2. Because of the tropical heat in Barbados, sheep do not have wool. They look like goats, but with longer tails and are raised for their meat.
  3. Barbados has tiny tree frogs that emit a high-pitched whistle starting at dusk and go late into the night. I’m used to the late summer, early autumn chirping of the tree frogs in North America. It took a few nights to get used to the volume of noise those little creatures made outside our windows.
  4. Barbados has few snakes—none that are native to the area, anyway. The Small Indian mongoose has made sure of that. Is a good thing? I’m familiar with snake danger—I’m not so familiar with mongoose danger.
  5. Friendly acknowledgements are a custom in Barbados. Anytime Cat and I approached someone’s space, whether we wanted to talk with them, or were just passing by, Barbadians look directly at you and say hello, or good evening, or another friendly greeting. It made me feel welcome and safe. I can’t tell you how nice that was.
  6. The West side of the island has powerful, crashing waves that leaves grey sand along the shoreline. The East side of the island has calm waters and powdery, white sand—great for swimming, and full of marine animals like manta rays, and both the Leatherback and Hawksbill Turtles. The Southern area in between the two, mixes the two sands together, giving it a pink hue.

I’m sure you would note different things than me, but time is short now, and noting the difference between research and experiencing a location’s reality can’t be emphasized enough.

The application window for The Wayward Wormhole Barbados – The Art of the Novella closes on May 15, 2025.

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Wayward Wormhole: Carousing in the Castle

The latest dispatch from Janet:

This is the Castell de Llaes courtyard. The building on the right is the entrance area I wrote about a few weeks back, and the main castle is straight ahead, with the cemetery past the entrance, but also on the right.

The courtyard is walled in by 10th-century blocks of stone and surrounded by trees, shrubs, and flowers that grow along the hilltop’s edge. At night it’s going to be pitch-fricken-black out there! I can’t wait to see the stars from this amazing dark-spot. My travel telescope should fit into my suitcase””if you see me wearing the same clothes over and over, you’ll know I made a difficult choice when packing.

And yes, it’s nice during the day, too. You can expect daily temperatures around 66F or 19C, with lows down to 44F or 7C at night. Now, I’m Canadian, so this means a light sweater in the evening, but whatever it means to you, day or night, I think spending time in this protected courtyard may be a highlight of the trip. There are private benches along the outer edge, a large, long-table for meals or drinks, and several shady tree spots for notes, story-catching, or plain old zoning out.

Cat and I are planning several BBQ nights, so bring your appetite.

THE APPLICATION WINDOW ENDS ON MAY 31 AT MIDNIGHT EST ““ THAT’S IN 15 DAYS!!

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