Archive for September, 2009

What I learned on my DIY writing retreat

A year ago, I had the urge to go on a writing retreat. The problem was, the retreats available were either too expensive or too far in the future. So, to compromise, I booked a hotel room for two nights and did my own writing retreat.

I wrote an article about it for the Writers’ Guild of Alberta’s member magazine, and wrote an article with DIY writing retreat tips on Suite 101. Lately, I’ve been considering making my own writing retreat again, which made me think about the whole experience and – at the risk of sounding too After-School Special – the things I learned from it.

Be picky about the hotel location

At first, I didn’t care where my hotel was, as long as it was clean and inexpensive. But then I imagined three days without being able to take a walk if I got stuck on a project, or without being able to walk somewhere to get a cup of coffee. So, the hotel I ended up booking for my writing retreat was by the river and near a lot of coffee places and restaurants. The snowstorm that showed up that weekend actually didn’t even make me regret having to go outside that much!

Oh, and yes, this hotel was a bit more expensive, but not budget-breaking (and cheaper than a traditional writing retreat, anyway).

Your room’s location is important too

The one downer about my hotel room was its proximity to the hotel lounge. There was some kind of noise going on most of the time, usually later at night when people were having some drinks and talking loudly. For me, it wasn’t so much that it kept me from writing, but more that it made me feel kind of like a hermit-y freak, shutting myself up in my room while people were having the time of their lives just outside. Of course, that kind of problem isn’t common, but it’s good to make sure your room isn’t near someplace noisy like a lounge or elevators.

Take every advantage to talk to people

Doing your own writing retreat means you need to be disciplined, sitting in your room for most of the day. However, sitting silently and alone in a hotel room for hours can make you go a bit doolally (and paranoid that the people in the hotel lounge are laughing at you). Like in my post about how to not lose your mind while working from home, human communication is important. For me, it was mostly people who worked at coffee shops. I may have overdid my responses to their how are yous, but the important thing is I didn’t become isolated and weird.

Don’t overthink the outcome of your writing retreat

I went on the retreat to work on a novel that I had expanded from a short story. Over the course of the weekend, I changed the point of view. Then I changed it back to a short story. Both of these things were not at all what I was expecting to happen and at first it bugged me. But really, it was good. That story is still a story, and it’s better than it would have been if it was a third-person novel. As long as you write, it’s not a wasted trip.