When I saw Devon Ellington mention a personal writing retreat on her blog, I went a little ga-ga. I begged her to expand on that thought, because who among us can really afford to take time away from clients let alone afford a writing retreat? Devon delivered: here is her advice for carving away time and all the preparations necessary to conduct your own personal retreat.
The Home Writing Retreat
by Devon Ellington
Between the recession (let’s not be squeamish: Depression) and the fact that most of us are booked to the gills most of the time, it’s difficult to put aside the time to do our own work, what I call “Projects of the Heart.” Whether it’s a novel, a non-fiction book proposal, or sorting out a dozen or so article ideas, uninterrupted writing time is vital to continued success as a working writer.
So often, one can’t afford the time or the money involved in traditional retreats. But you can create your own.
First and foremost, you need to have uninterrupted work time. If you’re married, it’s a weekend where your husband is away and the kids are at camp or with the grandparents or anywhere but home.
You do need to have a bit of planning. What you don’t want to do is laze around in your pajamas reading the newspaper, and, suddenly, it’s four in the afternoon and you haven’t put a single word on a page. Since my yoga practice is a huge part of my daily life, I find that rotating yoga with writing with reading generally makes the most productive retreat.
You also need to think about food. If you’re the person primarily in charge of cooking in your household, a retreat is your chance to either eat out or stock up on prepared foods so that you DON’T have to cook. If the thought of a weekend of Lean Cuisines is NOT your idea of “retreat”, check out your local deli, specialty food or gourmet stores. If you like wine, stock away a few bottles of good vintage. Make sure you have plenty of coffee, juice, and healthy but fun snacks, too.
If cooking relaxes you, take the time to plan the meals for your retreat, make a thorough list, and do a complete food shop before your retreat officially starts. That doesn’t mean you can’t suddenly dash out to your favorite coffee bar. But you also don’t HAVE to, if you’d rather stay at home. If your idea of heaven is long, scented bath, make sure that you’re well-stocked with bath salts, oils, and candles.
I like to do a three-day retreat, either a Friday-Sunday or a Saturday-Monday, but any amount of time is fine. Even a single whole day can create the mental and physical space that makes all the difference in your work.
Are you a morning person? An afternoon person? A night person? Write whenever you’re the most energetic, and work the other aspects of the retreat around that.
Once you’ve decided your retreat starts, turn off the phone. Keep the television off. If you need to check in with your family or your kids, set up times ahead of the retreat where you’ll chat. And don’t waver on them, unless there’s an emergency.
For me, a typical retreat day starts with an extra-long yoga session (maybe an hour rather than my usual 40 minutes), and a seated meditation. Then, I’ll have coffee and do my first writing session of the day. After an enjoyable breakfast, I’ll have another writing session of 1-3 hours. I might do another session of yoga, and have a healthy lunch.
After lunch, I might do another writing session for 40 minutes to an hour, then take a walk. If the writing is going well, I’ll keep going; otherwise, I’ll probably read for most of the afternoon. I might take my notebook and go to a favorite cafe — or maybe a new one I’ve always wanted to try. I keep my journal near by and write in it whenever I feel like it — sometimes I stop every few pages in my other work and write in the journal. There’s basic structure in the day, but also fluidity.
I’ll make a nice dinner, have a glass of wine, maybe take a bath in the evening. I still don’t turn on the television at night. Most likely, I’ll pop some corn and either catch up on movies, or watch some old favorites. Or I’ll read. I’ll do another yoga session at night, and maybe another seated meditation. Sometimes I play music; sometimes I prefer the silence. Or, if the writing really pulls at me, I’ll write.
The great thing about a retreat is that, should you want to write all night and go to bed at sunrise, and not get up until late afternoon to do it all again — you’ve got that freedom.
If there’s no place to stash the kids, you can create a retreat WITH them. I once had a retreat planned when I was stuck on a deadlined project, and four of my godchildren were deposited on me unexpectedly for the weekend. Most of them are grown now, and some have kids of their own, but they still talk about how much fun we had. Rules: No cell phones, no television, no video games. You have writing sessions together and reading sessions together. You can also decide if you want to read each other material you’ve written or read aloud to each other (we read some of A CHRISTMAS CAROL out loud, and we also alternated reading Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, and we spent one rainy day reading THE SECRET GARDEN aloud in its entirety). We popped corn and watched old movies together. It was the first time they’d ever seen THE MALTESE FALCON and the kids LOVED it. We also watched CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT and BALL OF FIRE. If you want a great night of movies, rent old Barbara Stanwyck films — they’re quite something! We also watched Humphrey Bogart’s TREASURE OF SIERRA MADRE back to back with RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (which the kids had all seen about a half a dozen times) and they got to see the nods to the former in the latter.
Taking a few days for a home-based retreat is a great way to revive and revitalize your writing, and, more importantly, your writing spirit. It’s a fraction of the cost of going away, and you still get an enormous return on the investment. It’s always a good idea to invest in your own growth.
–-Devon Ellington publishes under half a dozen names in both fiction and non-fiction, in addition to running a thriving freelance writing business. To keep up on her work, visit her blog on the writing life, Ink in My Coffee and her website.
I do a retreat too. I take the weekend off, stock up the larder, batten up the hatches, take the phone off the hook, and work. It's brilliant.
I so love that I am reading this post on the first day of school in complete silence as my sanity slowly comes back to me. After the summer I've had I'm due for a retreat. Such a great idea.
Another well-timed guest post! I was just thinking the other day that it would be really nice to get away and just write. Unfortunately, my husband is quite the homebody, but anyway I think I'd prefer to go somewhere. I have a favorite relaxation place — a small, largely unknown hot springs resort in the mountains about 30 minutes west of Denver. There's not a whole lot going on there so it would be perfect! I'll have to think seriously about planning a retreat there…
Little did I know I've held my own at-home writing retreats on a couple of occasions!
Devon's onto something: Eliminating distractions is just as important as the writing and ruminating. That can make it more of a challenge to have a retreat at home, but as she says planning ahead is crucial.
I had an unplanned retreat during a major snowstorm, which made it easy to avoid everything other that shoveling (and the repetition of shoveling really does help free your thoughts). Luckily I knew a storm was possible, so I was fully stocked.
I always feel I never make the best of the rare time I get alone in the house – so thanks for this – you've given me some ideas 🙂
I've found it very helpful to "retreat at home". I've also either rented a hotel room, or, even better, a small cottage somewhere quiet at times, basically following the same principles, but in a remote location.
It's fun!
Devon, a cabin in a remote location sounds like fun too! I don't think I could do it at home — all the pets would make it difficult to attain that retreat feeling, not to mention I would find it really difficult to get rid of my husband for any amount of time.
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