…and actually get words on a page!

When you tell people you’re an author, they most likely envision you sitting in a cabin deep in the middle-of-wooded-nowhere. A movie-like setting where you’re surrounded by notebooks, papers, and yummy-smelling candles. There’s perfect peace and quiet, except for the clickety clack of a vintage typewriter as your fingers effortlessly fly across the keys.

I mean, duh, what else?

Oh, how I wish this was the case! My own experience could not be more opposite.

In this moment, I’m surrounded by the smell of freshly popped buttery popcorn, a dog at my feet, a preschooler vying for my lap, and “Angry Birds the Movie” playing in the background. (Anyone else nearly gag in the scene where they meet ‘Mighty Eagle?’ Gross. But my boys loved it.)

You can imagine my delight when I was invited by a good writer friend to join her and another author for a weekend away for a real writer’s retreat! My heart leapt with joy when she threw it out as an idea, and I quickly consulted my planner to see if it was even a remote possibility.

After confirming with the hubs (and reminding him he has survived without me many times before), I ecstatically told my friend “YES!”

As a momma bear of four boys, let’s be honest, there’s never a good time to go out of town. They all in some form or fashion still depend on me. But I know it’s also an amazing opportunity for them to step up and take responsibility for things while I’m away.

Plus as a business owner, I believe in investing in myself. For me, this looks like attending one or two business conferences every year. And the same is true for my writing. My book is still in the works, and it’s one part of my business – so I believe it is WORTH investing in.

I hope you hear my sarcasm come across when I say the point of a writer’s retreat is, you guessed it, to write! Hello Captain Obvious. But it is so much more than that, too.

A writer’s retreat can foster deep connections, create transformative thinking, and build confidence as an author.

Time away outside of everyday rhythms to think, get words on a page, recount stories buried deep, and review my book’s outline and overall purpose is just what I need.

Recently, our small cohort met over Zoom and began to plan how we can get the most out of this unique experience together.

And y’all – I cannot make this stuff up. This particular writer’s retreat will be in the middle-of-wooded-nowhere IN A CABIN. I mean, c’mon! Does it get more dreamy than that?!

(Which now that I type that out loud, I realize it’s the setting for most horror movies, but we won’t go down that road. Only happy thoughts here! Haha!)

Back to planning! In case you’re invited to join a writing retreat or want to plan your own, I thought it might be helpful to share our plans with you. Here’s what we came up with to squeeze the most out of three glorious days.

To make it simple (which I’m all about) we broke up our time into three categories:

1. Writing Time
2. Food & Fun Time
3. Downtime

Let’s go over each of these in detail.

1. Writing Time

This one feels obvious, but even when you have the best intentions, you can get side-tracked and an hour goes by without a single word written on the page. To get the most out of this focused time, we are taking time before the retreat to intentionally create goals for what we want to accomplish.

You probably know by now that I love a good goal! (Smarter goals, to be exact.) And above all, I believe in the power of writing them down. This will help immensely when I’m in a new environment, and I can get centered on what I’m really there to do.

2. Food & Fun Time

Food is a necessity – but it’s also part of the fun. Where we’re going, they have a thing called “Supper Clubs.” This is an entirely new concept to me and not a thing here in South Texas. I’m all about a little adventure – so we may give this a shot! We also plan to supply our cabin with plenty of yummy snacks: think charcuterie meats with delicious fruits and cheeses. AKA adult lunchables.

Fun is also a key factor to a successful writing retreat! There’s going to be plenty of it with the variety of personalities showing up. I’ve never met these ladies IRL – so that’s a built-in fun factor of 10! Whether we’re sharing a laugh over a glass of wine, curling up for a good movie, or fireside chats late into the evening, there’ll be no shortage of fond memories to make.

3. Downtime

Sometimes quiet is called for. That’s especially true as a writer. Time for introspection is a must. So is rest! Resting looks different for everyone. My version of rest looks like quiet times in the morning, breaking a sweat on a trail near the cabin, napping in the late afternoon, sitting on the swing by the water.

However you enjoy resting, be sure to include time in your day for it. It’ll help you recharge for those all-important writing blocks.

To see what these three categories can look like, here’s a quick schedule of what we’re planning for each day – because brain breaks (and snack breaks) are important! We all agreed to hold this schedule loosely. Meaning, if we need to change it or we want to throw it out all together – that’s cool either way.

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*To best help one another, we plan for each one of us to have a “hot seat” time over the weekend. This will be a focused time for one person to share what they’re working on, struggles they’re experiencing, and the opportunity to receive feedback and insight from the group.

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I hope you found this Writer’s Retreat planning post to be helpful! Have you been on a writing retreat? What did you do to prepare and make the most of it? I’d love to hear about your experience. Post your comments below! I’ll be sure to do a post-writing retreat follow up to share how it really went.

If you’re writing a book, and you want to be ready to launch it to your loyal readers, I’d love to connect with you! Click here to grab my FREE Book Launch Prep Guide which includes ten things you need to know for a stress-free book launch!

You don’t have to launch your book alone. This guide will help you have a joyful and successful book launch experience!

Joyfully,

Jess