I Want to Get Away ....

Planning your own writing retreat

Happy Thursday, readers. I don’t know about you, but I am ready for the weekend.

Confession: I want nothing more than to get away lately. I’ve scheduled a much-needed week off from all work in March, and it can’t come soon enough. But to be honest, I know myself well enough to be worried about what I’ll do with that week.

What I plan to do during my week off: write, go to the beach, read, write some more, take a walk, get coffee with friends, go to a movie, get a facial, take a drive up the coast—maybe as far as Big Sur, read some more, write some more, get a mani/pedi, spend time with family.

What I do not plan to do, but what I’m afraid I’ll end up doing anyway: turn on my computer, catch up on work, get mad at myself for working, promise myself I’ll work for just one more hour, work for four or five hours instead … you get the idea.

I think the best way to avoid wasting my week on work and business-as-usual is to make a plan for the week, so that’s what I’m doing. I’m hoping to plan a group writing retreat in the near future that will include friends, but for now, I’m planning a solo writing retreat. It will include lots of time for writing in the mornings, yes, but also time for reading, walks on the beach, rejuvenation, and all the other things that feed my body, my spirit, and my writing. If I plan it out and create a retreat schedule, it will be easier to stick to the plan.

When my kids were little, we didn’t have a lot of money for going-somewhere vacations, but sometimes, I’d take a week off work anyway, just to be at home with them. I’d pretend I didn’t have a day job. I’d pretend I was a stay-at-home mom who could spend more time with my children. I’d spend a week living as if ….

That’s what I’m going to do during my week off in March—I’m going to spend a week living as if. I’m going to spend nine days living as if I were a full-time writer. I’ve been thinking about what my dream day looks like—mornings filled with coffee, journaling, and writing; afternoons filled with sunshine; evenings filled with good books. That is the dream. I can’t live that way every day, at least not for the foreseeable future, but I can live that way for nine days. And I can perhaps take a little more of that life with me into my post-vacation life.

I’m reminded often that my best chance of success at pretty much anything lies in being healthy enough and energized enough to continue working at all the things I love, so this year I’m working hard at putting my physical and mental health first. I’m looking forward to having a full nine days to reset and put this into practice.

I’m excited about going into a book bubble next month!

So, I’ve been researching this because … me. Here are a half dozen of my favorite tips I’ve found so far for creating a DIY retreat:

• Have a schedule.

• Build breaks into your schedule.

• Get up and move.

• Set a goal, something more than just “write.”

• Set social media rules.

• Plan meals ahead of time.

And in case you’d like to plan a retreat of your own, here are some of the best resources I’ve found about organizing a writing treat, whether a solo retreat or a retreat for a group:

Too Intimidated (or Risk Averse) to Organize a Writing Retreat?
(Amy Goldmacher for Jane Friedman)

On Writing Retreats
(Adelle Purdham for The Brevity Blog)

Create Your Own Mini-Writing Retreat
(Kathryn Haueisen Cashen for Writer’s Digest)

Shut Up and Write! Eight Tips for Hosting a Writing Retreat
(Maartje De Meulder and Joseph Murray for Acadeafic)

DIY Writing & Revision Retreats
(Sarah Penner for her blog)

How to Plan a DIY Writing Retreat to Spark Creativity
(Kayti Christian for The Good Trade)

DIY Writing Retreat Guide: Everything You Need to Succeed
(Kelly Notaras for KN Literary Arts)

A solo writing retreat: why every writer needs one and how to do it
(Kerstin Pilz for Write Your Journey)

How to host a writers’ retreat
(Louise Zedda-Sampson for her blog)

“Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for. Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us.”

—Maya Angelou

NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

For the past year, I’ve mentored a fellow UC Riverside Palm Desert MFA alum through the Author Accelerator book coaching program in fiction. My mentee, Karen A. Parker, successfully completed the program and became a certified book coach recently. Karen is launching a year-long Quill and Ink Group Coaching Pilot Program where writing is an act of resistance. This particular program is primarily for systemically oppressed storytellers of speculative fiction. The cost is $25 per week, scholarships are available, and you can audit one session free by signing up as a Pilot Program Auditor. Read more details about Karen’s new program and their other upcoming programs HERE.

“Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.”

—Dolly Parton

SOME THINGS FOR READERS

12 Poems and Short Stories by Black Writers to Read for Free Online
(Curated by Electric Literature)

Twenty-Three Reasons My Mother Died
(Creative Nonfiction by Navneet Bhullar for Cutleaf)

New Models for Aging as Women
(Gina Frangello, Ph.D., M.A., for Not the Norm in Psychology Today)

How Do You Write an Opera Based on Moby-Dick?
(Sophie Haigney interviews Gene Scheer for The Paris Review)

“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes … including you.”

—Anne Lamott

SOME THINGS FOR WRITERS

Cut the Good Stuff: The Problem with Powerful Writing
(Allison K. Williams for The Brevity Blog)

To the artist who wants to go full time. I also want you to go full time …
(Amie McNee for Amie’s Substack)

How to Use Family Letters to Write Memoir
(Marion Roach Smith interviews Julie Kabat for Qwerty)

A Tiny Tomato a Day Keeps Writerly Woes at Bay
(Emma Olive Billington for Jane Friedman)

A Scene vs. “In Scene”
(Brooke Warner for Brooke Warner)
NOTE: I just learned that Brooke Warner will be the keynote speaker at our local writers’ conference in September—I’m so excited to meet her in person!

What My Father’s Emails Taught Me About the Craft of Writing
(Emily J. Smith for Literary Hub)

“I’m writing a book. I’ve got the page numbers done, so now I just have to fill in the rest.”

—Steven Wright

SOMETHING TO MAKE YOU LAUGH … SO YOU DON’T CRY

Don’t Tread on Me—Unless You’re a Billionaire with a Ketamine Addiction, in Which Case I Enthusiastically Support It
(Maggie Downs for McSweeney’s Internet Tendency)