A rustic cabin deep in the woods. Moss on the rocks. Towering green trees whispering high above your head. Lazy lapping lakes with lily pads and frogs croaking in the evening twilight.

Can it get any more magical?

This past weekend, I was blessed to get away with a few writer friends for a quiet and relaxing stay in a Wisconsin cabin. It was truly a gift to my soul.

It was a super chill small group, only three, and that allowed for each one of us to voice our dreams and goals for this intimate gathering away in the woods.

The time we spent to prep for this trip paid off 100% to make this weekend as productive and relaxing as it was!

If you want to learn more about how we planned for this writing retreat, you can check out that blog post here.

This week, I wanted to share my main takeaways with you and perhaps bring some encouragement to your tired soul.

Biggest Takeaways:

1. Invest in your writing. If you want to be a good writer, then you MUST write. Not just once a year at a retreat, but daily. This sounds simple, but is often difficult to accomplish. I do not believe you must write pages per day. There’s something about honing your craft in short spurts on the regular. Maybe it’s the thrill of a challenge to get a fully-formed thought on the page before your kiddo gets off the bus and you have to shift into mom mode. Investing both dollars and time into your writing will pay dividends. I fully believe it!
2. There is power in connecting with other writers! I learned so much from these two incredible ladies. They are a vast well of knowledge and wisdom, and I appreciated their vulnerability in even admitting mistakes and what they’ve learned not to do when it comes to writing and sharing their message with the world.
3. Discover what inspires you to write. In this weekend’s case, the environment was ideal, whether I was sitting on the dock, at a picnic table under the canopy of trees, or cozied up inside on the couch, I took time to soak it all in and write without pause – except when it was time for a snack! Since this will not be my everyday writing scenario, I think remembering who you’re writing for is a better way to maintain inspiration to get the words on the page.

Our writing goals for this getaway:

Sharing business resources and our areas of expertise with one another.

Writing a chapter draft (3,400 words on the page)!

Editing a manuscript.

Working on a message.

Crafting website copy.

Repurposing content.

Re-writing our xyz statements.

Fun things we made happen, too:

Sitting by the water in the morning with a good cup of coffee.

Enjoying meals, laughter and amazing conversation.

Quiet time for prayer and journaling.

Walks outdoors.

Listening to the birds.

Hammocking.

Watching the wildlife (frogs, cranes, bees, hawks, fish, deer).

Kayaking (yep – that happened)!

Eating out at fancy restaurants (which I learned is a well-known northerner tradition called Supper Club).

A little encouragement:

If you find it difficult to make time to write in the midst of your busy everyday life, I want to encourage you to start small.

I heard Emily P. Freeman speak at my first hope*writers conference I ever attended, where she talked about learning to think small. Write in the cracks of time. A paragraph here. A note about a story there. A few minutes here. Twenty minutes there.

Your words matter.

Re-think your writing and think small, friend.

Or you can go big and getaway to a rustic cabin deep in the woods.

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Did you enjoy this week’s blog? How do you “think small” when it comes to fitting in your craft of writing into your busy weeks? Comment below!