A writer’s retreat sounds good, doesn’t it? Get away from your day job, your house-mates, your friends, for a week, a weekend, or even just a day. Pure writing bliss.
Except it often isn’t. I’ve blogged about writing retreats here, and even earlier, here. If you approach them with realistic expectations, maintain discipline, and avoid distractions, you may accomplish many of your retreat goals.
You can divide writer’s retreats into two types—Group and Do-It-Yourself, and I’ve done both. Group retreats provide camaraderie with like-minded writers, and the opportunity for critiques and idea-sharing.
DIY retreats, described in two great posts—this one by Kristen Pope, and this one by Alicia de los Reyes, feature ‘alone time’ where it’s just you and your words. You may find a well-executed DIY retreat quite productive and rewarding.
Now for the counter-argument. In group retreats, when all is said and done, there’s often much more said than done. If you’re going to talk and not write, don’t call it a retreat. Call it a weekend with friends, a party, or a beer-bash.
DIY retreats avoid that problem, but may suffer other pitfalls. If you’re accustomed to writing in short bursts during the rare moments life allows, you may find it difficult to stay focused when you’ve set aside a whole day. If you’ve trained your brain to adjust to one-hour writing sessions, don’t be surprised when the gray matter gets distracted or sluggish after an hour.
Also, when you think about it, DIY retreats resemble your daily writing sessions, except they’re longer. Just a question of scale. Seems a little strange to give it a special name—retreat—when it’s so similar to your normal routine.
Consider professional authors, those who call writing their day job. They write all day, every day. Think the term ‘DIY retreat’ means anything to them? What you call a DIY retreat, they call a career.
Perhaps you should aim at that target. Rather than writing for a few minutes squeezed from life each day, all the while looking forward to the next retreat when you can really write, why not think of each day as a DIY retreat? Maximize those seized moments. Do everything you can to approximate the life of a serious, professional author. Maybe you can’t give up your day job or ignore life’s other requirements, but you can prioritize your time to permit more writing.
With that mindset, every day starts looking like a DIY retreat. Who started calling them ‘retreats,’ anyway? Yes, they involve backing away from the non-writing parts of life, but ‘retreat’ sounds so weak, like surrender. From a writing perspective, you’re advancing, not retreating. Let’s call them advances, or charges, or attacks.
Let’s go, writers! Grab your spear and shield—er, I mean pen and laptop, and advance toward glory. No retreat, no surrender. Charge forward! Follow—
Poseidon’s Scribe