NIP Bookcamp & Writing Retreat / Rescheduled to August 2-7
Venue: Cedar Valley UCCI, Southeast Wisconsin
With the extraordinary circumstances we now are living through, I assure everyone interested in attending our 2020 NIP Bookcamp & Writing Retreat your safety and comfort are our first priority.
Now in our seventh year, normally we hold the NIP in May. This, of course, is not a normal year. With that in mind, we have rescheduled this year’s NIP to August 2-7. Here are the safety precautions we will follow during the 2020 August NIP.
Policies & Procedures
1. The 2020 NIP will be held the first week of August unless Wisconsin or federal restrictions force us to cancel the Bookcamp workshop and Writing Retreat programs entirely this year. If that occurs, we will offer our 2020 registered writers two options:
a. Automatic enrollment into either of our 2021 scheduled residential programs, the All-Genres NIP May 23-29 or our newly planned Speculative Fiction NIP August 1-7, applying the 2020 registration fee to help pay for 2021 enrollment.
b. A full refund.
2. Please do not attend the NIP if you feel ill in the days prior to August 2. Notify Director Dave Rank you cannot attend and you will have the same options for your registration fee as listed in Policy 1.
3. If during the NIP you become ill, you should go home and your registration fee will be refunded on a prorated basis following the same options as listed in Policy 1.
4. During the August NIP, we will continue to follow social distancing policies:
a. There will be a no-touch policy. Refrain from shaking hands, hugging, and casual touches.
b. Wearing a face covering required.
c. Social distancing will be followed at all group activities, spreading out seating in classrooms, the dining room—no more than four per table—and elsewhere in the main building of Cedar Valley.
d. During meals, we will make sure the buffet line is spread out as well.
e. Wearing disposable gloves will be required when serving yourself at the buffet.
5. We ask everyone to bring a personal face covering, if possible. We will have disposable face coverings available, as well.
6. We will provide hand sanitizer during the NIP. Of course, everyone is invited to bring their own sanitizer, as well.
7. Cedar Valley has assured us their housecleaning staff will clean all public areas on a daily basis, wiping off handrails, elevators, door knobs, things that people touch the most. We will provide disposable cleaning wipes and ask everyone to use them to wipe down portable items that are shared.
8. The NIP’s Philip N. Martin Memorial Book Collection is located in the Cedar Valley Library on the lower level of the Main Building. A collection of reference books on writing, genres, publishing, and editing, it is available to writers enrolled in the NIP, staff, and alumni. We will sanitize the collection prior to the start of the August NIP. Books should remain with the Collection, wiped down after handling, and left in the Collection’s Return Basket. Staff will return the books to the shelves. If you need to borrow a Collection book, notify Dave Rank you are borrowing it. The book must be returned to the Collection Basket before the end of the NIP. Collection books are not for sale nor can they be removed from the Cedar Valley grounds.
9. All policies are subject to state and federal social distancing mandates in effect for August and will be altered as needed.
NOTE: Cedar Valley offers spacious indoor and outdoor facilities. We will encourage everyone to use this space to spread out as much as possible during the NIP.
For questions, further clarification, or to enroll, contact NIP Director Dave Rank, director@novelbookcamp.org, or 262-717-5154.
