Other ways to do a retreat would be to set up childcare for a full Saturday or Sunday and with goals in hand, write at a local café or library. If children aren’t a concern, maybe go to a local hotel for one night and check in early and check out late to get the most of a quiet place to write.
Some writers can ignore the phone and laundry at home, but if you aren’t one of them, finding a good place to write can be tricky. You may have to try some places at different hours or different days to see what works best.
It’s not always the retreat itself that lends to productivity, but just knowing there is a retreat in sight can be motivating. I’m the sort of person who needs deadlines, or else I can find a hundred other things to do instead. But when I have a retreat planned, it sort of focuses my mind and my writing muscles to stay on task and beat those goals.
Whether you can get away for a day or two or not, the purpose is to get as much done as possible. So some brainstorming might be needed to figure out how to best make the use of whatever time you set aside. Then make sure to have whatever necessary resources on hand and plenty of snacks, water, etc. depending on where your retreat is.
There are so many ways to get some retreat time in, these are just a few. What ways do you go on a writing retreat? If not a retreat, how do you get large blocks of time to write? Or make the use of short stints? We would love to hear your suggestions; share them in the comments.
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Michelle
Paddle Creek Writers 