HA! What are the odds?
(I still am not sure about what to work on at my retreat next week. Leaning more toward a combo of revision/idea planning but haven’t given up on outlining something new to work on. Still, I would need to have some free time. Yesterday was the last day of school and was full of ceremonies, but maybe today I can spend some time on it.)
This month’s WriYe prompt is: Plan out your ideal writing retreat. Who would you invite? Where would it be held?
I’ve done maybe two writing retreats previously. One was for Nano in, oh, 2019? I booked a room in a local hotel for one night, ordered in food, and banged out 9000 words (which caught me up). That’s probably your most basic of retreats. Not necessarily sustainable in the long run.
The other time, I went up the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park for a night. That was a group, and we wrote for several hours (and potlucked dinner), and then I went to bed while everyone else went ghost hunting. (My stance on ghosts is that I Do Not believe in them, but I would prefer not to have that worldview challenged.) I don’t remember what I was working on then, but it was probably about 10 years ago.
And, of course, there’s this one next week (less than a week from now!), which has 33 people going and lasts for a few days.
Requirement #1: Someone else must feed me.
I cook dinner almost every day, and while I don’t mind it (it’s relaxing, sometimes, and definitely healthier), it’s such a treat when I don’t have to cook. Any perfect writing retreat for me is going to give me food. Ideally it would be healthy and delicious.
Requirement #2: Built-in Breaks
My focus is not necessarily the greatest thing ever. I can and have written for hours straight, but that is definitely not the norm. And the longer I “focus,” the worse my focus gets. (Like, if I write for an hour and a half straight, and try to keep going, the more breaks I’m going to take to check Discord or something, or stare out the window, or poke at my phone.)
I know this about myself. At home I set timers sometimes–write for so long, take a ten minute break, etc. because I know if I try to force myself to work for too long, my brain is going to rebel. So having a couple hours of working time, and then something else, like a meal, or a walk, or a nap, would be best.
Not too many breaks, though, or nothing get done.
Requirement #3: The ability to isolate
Can I write together with other people? Yes. Is this the most productive way to work? Sometimes! That’s the whole reason “write-ins” exist. If people are focused and writing, it acts as a form of peer pressure, a “they’re working, so I should work” sort of deal.
(I recently learned about a concept related to ADHD called body doubling–though I can never remember what the concept is called and have to search every time I want to tell someone about this–where the ADHD person sits with someone else, which helps them focus on their own tasks. This is essentially the same thing.)
But I’ve also been at write-ins where we spent an hour talking about Star Trek, or laughing over something on the Internet, or coming up with elaborate lore that had nothing to do with anyone’s stories.
So sometimes it’s better to go off and work on your own (provided you will actually work and not scroll memes), and the ability to choose would be helpful.
Requirement #4: The ability to go outside
Not to work, necessarily. I actually don’t like to write outside. It’s hard to see the screen, or your paper blows around, or it rains on you, or you get distracted by squirrels…
But I love to go for walks, especially through the woods, and having the ability to go out into nature for a bit is very beneficial to me. I’ve been on non-writing retreats where I kind of burn out on people and being inside, and going outside (by myself) always helps.
So, yeah, an outdoor environment that I can sit in is super great.
People or no-people?
I’m not sure on whether my ideal writing retreat would be me, out in a cabin near the forest, where someone brings me food a couple times a day, or whether it would be better to be with a group of people in a retreat center or something (out near the forest).
If you’re alone, there’s less distractions (in theory).
With other people, you can benefit from the body doubling we talked about above. You can network and make new friends. When we started talking about writing retreats here a few months ago, that’s what I wanted out of one the most (which is why we started with conferences and moved on to residencies before ending up at retreats).
But other people can also be a problem. If you don’t gel with the other attendees, or if people keep interrupting you, or if people are actively malicious…
I may have to go to this one next week and then make a final decision on this front.
What about you, squiders? If you were going to a retreat (not necessarily for writing, but for anything), what would your perfect one look like?
