A writing retreat might be the key to your success. 

Very often held in beautiful locations, a writing retreat is a special event where writers come together to dedicate time to writing and writing only. 

Whether you need to jump-start your first draft or get through that last round of edits, many can reap the rewards of a writing retreat—it’s like drinking a magic potion in a fairy tale, like getting a bonus boost in a video game, like waking up from a perfect night’s sleep. 

And it’s not just the change of scenery that helps. The real purpose of a writing retreat is to take you out of the regular responsibilities of your day-to-day life. As even full-time authors know, it’s not the occasional doctor’s appointment that throws off your word count goals, even if it may feel like it at the time. It’s unloading the dishwasher, packing the kids’ lunchboxes, walking the dog, even making the bed—all those little tasks add up to you struggling to stay in the right headspace to get work done.

But writing retreats often require an application, travel, and the ability to make sure your home and family can get along without you for however long the retreat lasts. 

Luckily a writing retreat can be made to suit your needs as well as the needs of all your writer friends. 

Split a Weekend House with Your Writing Group

If everyone in your writing group is feeling the need for a retreat, pull up a map of your surrounding area at your next meeting. Do you live near a beach? A forest? Maybe a lake that’s in the off-season right now? 

Pick an area and start looking up vacation houses, hotels, B&Bs, and any other kind of rentals. How much would it be to split the costs between all of you as a group? Would it be fun to arrange yourselves around on various foldout couches around a house, or would you rather all have your own space and come together for meals? 

You don’t need to submit an application to hang out with your own group of writer friends. Why not go in on the cost and mental load of planning a writing retreat with each other? You’ll save time trying to find retreat options and compose applications, and you have an opportunity to grow closer with your group. You can add to the trip by doing feedback sessions every day at lunch, or maybe you all want to focus on is spending as much time working alone as possible. There’s no wrong way to retreat!

Go Solo

But maybe being around other people is your problem. You get distracted by chatting with writer friends, you get hung up on getting to know new people at an organized retreat, and you know you can’t get a single word written down if there’s even one person home with you.

In that case, you need to venture out on your own.

Depending on your budget, you have lots of options. A weekend in a hotel might be perfect. A stay in an faraway location would be fun, but if it isn’t in your budget, it isn’t necessary; having a place to stay where you can order room service and don’t have to clean anything yourself will be a big help, even if you’re still in the same city where you live. 

If you do have the resources to go somewhere nice, consider spending your budget on a fancier hotel rather than on a more interesting location. Remember: the idea is to get work done. If you’re too busy sightseeing, your draft won’t get any longer. Your goal is to make it appealing to stay in and work on your laptop, and in that case, a really plush room in a not so exciting place is the best choice. 

Think Small

Not everyone can organize even a couple of days away from their daily life. Parents, caregivers, writers with demanding day jobs, and restrictive budgets can prevent you from embarking on a traditional writing retreat. 

Instead of giving up, do what writers do best—be creative. 

Maybe the next time you have a federal holiday off from work, you pack a lunch and spend the workday at your local library to write. If your kids have a sleepover, give yourself a few hours in the evening in a closed room with a nice scented candle to focus on your work. 

Microwriting retreats don’t have to be a solo venture either. You and others can alternate cooking a big dinner for the rest of the group while everyone else comes over and works until the meal is ready. Or you could pick a single day each month to book a slot in a coworking space, even if a daily membership isn’t in your budget. 

What Do You Need?

Formal writing retreats may or may not actually make your life easier. Arranging your life so you can travel, writing applications, and looking up which retreats even exist might be more trouble than it’s worth. 

So when planning your own retreat, don’t get hung up on what you think it’s “supposed” to be. Instead think about what would actually be helpful to you and make a plan to give yourself the perfect environment to write. Whether you can make it last for a few days or a few hours, you’ll be glad you put your needs as an author front and center.  

Chelsea Ennen is a writer living in Brooklyn with her husband and her dog. When not writing or reading, she is a fiber and textile artist who sews, knits, crochets, weaves, and spins.