Nope Diary #11
Nope to waiting for the perfect time or place for a writing retreat
A few months back, I read about two authors who started their own at-home writing retreat practice, and I thought, “I could do that.”
I texted Forrest. “Want to do this with me?”
To which he replied, “Yeah!”
We picked Monday, January 19, the day after my birthday, and a holiday, so no school or work would get in the way. I made a schedule, and we got to it.
We started the morning with breakfast and individual reading time. This isn’t too dissimilar to other lazy mornings around here, but it was nice to feel like we were all intentionally doing the same thing.
For the next two hours, we dispersed throughout the house to work on our various projects. A worked on one of his many, many paper-stapled books, J made progress on a crochet project and did more reading, Forrest did some work on an art project, and I finally started revisions for my novel.
(A word about our projects…even though several of us were writing, the day was open to any creative pursuit. That’s why we called it an art retreat instead of a writing retreat, so it could encompass more than writing.)
After the morning session, we took a much-needed break with lunch and a long dog walk (the latter was just me and Forrest). It was nice to get outside and talk about how the morning had gone, how we felt about our progress.
The afternoon is when the schedule kind of fell apart for everyone else, ha. J went to basketball practice, A went to the park with two of his friends, and Forrest went to skate at the skate park. I worked for another hour and a half in a quiet house and then did dinner prep before everyone came home. By then, it kind of just felt like a normal day off, so when we do it again, I’d like to make the dinner/evening portion a little more celebratory and relaxing.
Would I do an at-home art/writing retreat again? Absolutely. It’s easy for me to fill a day off with chores or errands or anything but writing. So, to have a full day of writing without all the unseen pressures of in-the-moment choices for meals or when to do what was the best kind of experience.
I still love going away for writing retreats. In fact, my family gifted me a night away in March to do just that. And I’m still going to apply for writing retreats through other organizations. But there’s no reason to wait for those opportunities to come up. I can pick a day or even just a morning or an afternoon and commit to getting the work done. Adding a menu and an aesthetically pleasing schedule makes it feel special and like I’m treating myself instead of working on something hard. I don’t know why it works, but it does.
What do you think? Would you ever try this?
🖤,
Elizabeth
I love this home writing retreat so much!