Hidey-ho, squiders! It’s been four days since I’ve been home from my retreat, and I gotta say, I miss the level of productivity I had going for me. I got through four chapters and about 15K words, which means I might actually finish the entire draft this week!
I have been working on this revision for over a year, so you have no idea how freeing that idea is.
So, my retreat went from Thursday to Sunday morning, and each day was basically divided up into three sections. Well, Friday and Saturday were, I guess. Thursday you could arrive between 1 and 6 pm and then there was a meet and greet after dinner, and Sunday we had breakfast and then needed to be out by 10:30 am (I had to leave a little early because the larger, mobile one’s Scout campout was getting back about an hour before I expected them to).
So basically, there was breakfast, then a session from 9 to 12 that could be used to go to one of the classes or write on your own, and then another from 1 to 6, and a third after dinner which in theory could go forever (though they looked the doors at 11 so you had to be in the correct building at that time). The classes were nice too, in that they averaged about an hour and a half, so you still had time outside them to write in that block.
But it went great. I met a lot of other authors and had some really good conversations, and outside of meals I didn’t especially have to (and didn’t) interact, which is good, because by Sunday morning I was feeling pretty peopled out even though I was having a great time and enjoying everyone’s company.
I was very productive and I feel good about what I got done, though I did end up just working on the revision. Once I got going it seemed silly to derail my momentum, and I can work on new story ideas in a few months between other projects, when it might be more logical.
And even though I was productive, I didn’t just work the whole time. I got up early Friday and Saturday to go to yoga, and I’d say I spent most of the morning sessions working and half the afternoon sessions. I also read a book, walked the labyrinth about eight times, went for an impromptu hike (and got rained on), explored everywhere I thought I was allowed to go, played some Minesweeper, and took a couple of naps. (The evening sessions were kind of hit or miss. I did work a bit during them, but in general my focus wasn’t great.)
I went to two of the classes, which we’ll talk more about next week, and the meet and greet, but otherwise I stuck to writing.
I guess my one complaint–two complaints–would be that there wasn’t a lot of great places to work outside my room. There was a desk in my room, kinda small and with a support bar to knock your shins against, that I mostly worked at, and I also worked in the conference room after a class once (when I was working on a new chapter and didn’t need my papers with me) and in the lobby once (paper editing, so just papers and pen). But while there were lots of chairs, there weren’t a lot of tables. There WERE tables outside, but they were those metal ones with the holes in them, and it kept raining. (Saturday afternoon I figured out the code to the other building and cruised through it, and the basement had some nice spots to work in, but at that point it seemed like a lot of work to drag all my stuff out of my building and across the way.)
The other complaint is that we kept running out of coffee, though, honestly, that’s probably for the best.
Anyway, I highly recommend this sort of thing. I’m already making plans to go to the one next year.
Ever done a retreat, squiders? What did you think?
