Links Mentioned in This Episode:

DIY Writing Retreats

First Book Finish

Intro:

Well, hey there, Writer. Welcome to The Resilient Writers Radio Show. I'm your host, Rhonda Douglas. And this is the podcast for writers who want to create and sustain a writing life they love.  Because let's face it, the writing life has its ups and downs, and we want to not just write, but also to be able to enjoy the process so that we'll spend more time with our butt-in-chair getting those words on the page. This podcast is for writers who love books and everything that goes into the making of them. For writers who want to learn and grow in their craft and improve their writing skills. Writers who want to finish their books and get them out into the world so their ideal readers can enjoy them. Writers who want to spend more time in that flow state. Writers who want to connect with other writers to celebrate and be in community, in this crazy roller coaster ride, we call the writing life. We are resilient writers. We're writing for the rest of our lives and we're having a good time doing it. So welcome, Writer. I'm so glad you're here. Let's jump right into today's show.

Rhonda:

Well, hey there, writer. Welcome back to The Resilient Writers Radio Show. It's just me today. We have just completed season five of The Resilient Writers Radio Show. I'm kind of amazed. I don't think when I started this that I thought we would be going this long, but I'm enjoying it so much. I love talking to other writers about writing and I love being able to share that with you. as inspiration and motivation and practical tips for you in your writing life. 

So we're not stopping. We're gonna take a bit of a break to get things lined up for season six. So give us about, I would say about four weeks and we will have a new season for you, season six. And I'll be talking to folks like Stacy Juba, Megan Fuentes, my friend Monica Hay, Kat Caldwell, Jennifer Hilt, Kirsten McNeil, Natasha Sass, Megan Stevenson, and Mia Botha. And I'm excited to share all of those conversations with you. 

But today I wanted to just have a little chat with you and me. And I wanna talk about the power of do-it-yourself writing retreats. So, In my First Book Finish program, we do these weekends called Page Booster Writing Retreat Weekends. We just had one this past weekend. I got a lot done. The folks who were able to participate got a lot done. And it does what it says on the can. It just gives you a boost in your page count or in terms of where you are with your revision. So they're so good. Like they really, really feel great. And whenever I plan one of those, I've used them as a tool in my writing life now for over 20 years. And whenever I plan a writing retreat, my whole body just kind of goes, right? I got another one coming up in early December. I'm gonna go away for it. Really excited. Writing retreats are hands down my favorite way to make substantive progress on a manuscript and also reconnect to my love of writing and why I write in the first place. 

When I first started writing, I was a single mother of a young child. I was doing a master's degree part-time and working a full-time management job in the nonprofit sector. And people would say to me, I don't know how you do it. Now, I would secretly think, I don't know either. But I think it's true that I had kind of discovered a secret weapon. I would organize these writing retreats for myself. 

So... This isn't the kind of like formal writing retreat where you spend a month or so in the woods with a group of fellow writers and someone puts on a lunch buffet every day. Like it's not the Banff Center for the Arts, right? Or Yadda where someone brings lunch to your studio door. But what it is a private self-directed retreat and it gives you alone time, immersive alone time with your writing project. 

And so... In my world, writing retreat weekends are time you block off for yourself in order to make real progress on a manuscript in a dedicated, immersive way. They can be as short as a day or two. A long weekend is perfect, but you can also make them longer if you like. Okay, so here's how you do it yourself. So here's how to DIY your own writing retreat. 

I look ahead on my calendar and I identify a weekend when I can arrange. I used to have to arrange childcare for my daughter. I used to have to arrange to make sure that, you know, someone took the dog, all of that, and you book a long weekend. And I mean book as in outline that sucker in Sharpie marker on your calendar and don't let anyone talk you out of it, not even yourself, especially not yourself. Okay. Put it in your calendar as though it's an appointment with your accountant, your doctor, your lawyer. Do you know what I mean? So once I know where I can retreat, then I figure out where. 

So you have a couple of options for this. If you have some resources available to you, you can go to private retreat centers. There are private retreat centers nearly everywhere. And I've used a few of those at times. So a lot of them are run by Christian or Buddhist groups, and they were set up to provide a place of sanctuary for people to use them for retreat. And so sometimes I've gone to places requiring silence or where there are other people there on small group retreats. 

Sometimes I've booked an Airbnb in a nearby city or I've booked a hotel room with room service. Sometimes I paid cash and sometimes I used reward miles. Right? So it all depended on what was available and what I could afford at the time. There was a time in my... single mothering days when room service and clean sheets could just like make me all weepy with joy. But if I had times where I couldn't afford anything much, I designed my own writing retreat weekend at home. That can also work if you design it right. 

Like what if you made a game out of it and decided to find every fantastic coffee shop within a one hour drive? What if you decided to go to every library in town? What if you had a friend let you use her guest bedroom? Or maybe you have a friend that has a ski chalet or a cottage and you can use that. 

So really once you know when and you know where, then it is all about setting it up for yourself to make it successful. Pro tip here, it's all about turning off the wifi and also I set up some rewards for myself in terms of making it just a little bit more fun. So once you know your own circumstances, you can design your retreat around it, okay? So if you're doing it at home or you are doing a tour of coffee shops or settling in at your local library or your best friend's guest bedroom, whatever location you have is fine. You're gonna design it accordingly, okay? 

So you can do this alone or you can do it with a friend. Sometimes it's nice to like, rent a place with a friend so that you can split the costs. Going with one or two other writers can also provide some built-in accountability because what happens is you get up in the morning, you start writing, and you know that you're going to see them later that day. Maybe you're going to break for dinner together in the evening. And you're going to be sharing how the work is coming along. So working alone can have its own delights. Staying in your PJs all day is one. right, unless that's just me, but I love writing in my PJ. 

When I was working on my first book, which was a book of poetry, my friend Nadine and I would regularly organize these writing retreats for herself. And I completed a poetry manuscript. She wrote a few short stories from her absolutely beautiful short story collection, Blood Secrets. And we may or may not also have completed a few bottles of wine, you know, when you're out with friends. I remember that at one point we had all the poems from my collection, papering the floor of the retreat house living room to help figure out how to best structure the book. It turns out walking around poems on the floor can help you build a table of contents, who knew, right? 

So if you're struggling to find precious hours of concentrated, uninterrupted, immersive time to work on your current writing project, then self-directed writing retreats, either alone or with a writing buddy might be helpful for you too. My daughter Emma can vouch for this. I was a much better mommy when I was writing regularly. And those retreats were a huge part of how I stayed connected with my writer self in the middle of everything else I had going on and helped me remember who I was in addition to being a mom and a breadwinner and a daughter and a team leader and a volunteer in my community and so on and so on and so on, right? 

So there is a way to kind of do these, right? So that you make the most of the time that you have. And if you're gonna give it a try, I've got a guide for you. It helps you structure your own writing retreats because once you say, okay, I'm gonna go away on this weekend and I've got Friday night, Saturday and Sunday, how do you organize yourself for all of that time, right? And so I want you to go to resilientwriters.com and there on the homepage, you'll find a little button that says DIY retreats, gain incredible momentum with your work in progress using DIY writing retreats. And if you click the “I need this button”, you'll be able to sign up to have me send you a guide that I have to show you how to make these work for you. Okay, so I hope this is helpful. 

As I say, these retreats have just changed my writing life. It reconnects me to my project. It allows me, like there's just nothing as great as having immersive time with a manuscript. Like it's great to get an hour here and an hour there. And that is how the book gets written, right? Consistent small amounts of time over time. But to have these long weekends or longer if you can do it and just be able to just nothing but the you and your book, you and your story. Right? It's amazing. You'll just, once you do one, you're never going back. 

So definitely grab my DIY writing retreat guide. You can find it straight on the homepage at resilientwriters.com and I hope this has been helpful for you today. I know that this is a tool that folks in First Book Finish appreciate. And as I say, it really has made a big difference in my writing life. So I wanted to share it with you as well. And that is it for season five of the Resilient Writers Radio Show. We are going to be kicking off season six in about four weeks time. And I'm looking forward to sharing that with you. 

So thanks so much for listening. I just want you to know how much I appreciate you being here. It means a lot to me. And if you have a second and you found this helpful, it would be great if you would share it with a friend. You can text the show. text them a message with the show or send them a link. If you know a writer who needs some occasional inspiration, motivation, and to not feel like they're alone in their writing life, because sometimes it can feel a little lonely. But you're not alone, you've got me in your corner, and I will see you soon for season six of the Resilient Writers Radio Show. Thanks for listening.

Outro:

Thanks so much for hanging out with me today and for listening all the way to the end. I hope you enjoyed today's episode of The Resilient Writers Radio Show. While you're here, I would really appreciate it if you'd consider leaving a rating and review of the show. You can do that in whatever app you're using to listen to the show right now, and it just takes a few minutes. 

Your ratings and reviews tell the podcast algorithm gods that yes, this is a great show, definitely recommend it to other writers. And that will help us reach new listeners who might need a boost in their writing lives today as well. So please take a moment and leave a review. I'd really appreciate it. And I promise to read every single one. Thank you so much.