Writing Retreats...For the Rest of Us
Academic writing retreats, but for those of us with limited funds and high teaching loads
Earlier this year, one of my writing group members pitched the idea of doing a Writing Retreat over the summer. Immediately, I pictured a cool Airbnb overlooking some mountains or a lake with maybe two (or three) 3-hour writing stretches sandwiched between gossip and wine consumption. When she pitched it, I was struggling to do even the bare minimum of work because of pregnancy nausea and fatigue, and so the thought of organizing such a thing was both overwhelming my addled brain AND something my soul yearned for ever so deeply. My vision for our retreat was unrealistic in so many ways not the least of which was the fact that I’d continue to be pregnant over the summer and therefore banned from enjoying wine consumption.
In my writing group, or writing coven as we now call ourselves, we are all teaching heavy loads and making laughable money while living in an area where you can make 100K and still feel broke AF. Not to mention our dynamic personal lives with spouses, babies, dogs, commutes, etc. presenting innumerable challenges to coordinating a weekend away. Ultimately, we dropped the ball. It wasn’t until I saw a tweet about writing retreats (or perhaps a blog) a few weeks ago that I remembered her idea. Personally, I had taken off the month of July to recoup and enjoy the promised-land 2nd trimester, so I was in a good place to revive my friend’s idea and entreat our group to plan something akin to a writing retreat before the fall semester started. However, as you know if you’re an academic, the semester “start” date is a lie eliding all the wind-up that institutions make you go through before the start of a new academic year and all the prep you didn’t do earlier in the summer (likely through no fault of your own, see my previous post).
We might have pulled it off if we had made it a virtual retreat - something that appeared during the pandemic and which, in my view, should stick around as long as it is useful. It isn’t anywhere near the same as holing up in a cabin sharing coffee on the porch with your coven before getting down to business…but it’s better than nothing. After all, the idea of a retreat is to set aside all the other things we are doing in order to pound out some writing. And I mean “pound out.” I use retreats to, as Mirya Holman likes to say, get shit done. Or at least move my ass on projects that have been languishing in my digital drawer or which were started and never quite brought up to the finish line.
This is easier to do in a country cabin with spotty wifi, of course. A virtual retreat over zoom feels more like work-work instead of writing time and you are still surrounded by your personal obligations whatever they may be. But, for academics like us, carving out time of any sort to do writing feels like a win no matter how it happens. This time around, we decided on a local meeting at an empty family home which felt like splitting the difference. But even this proved to be impractical for half of our group because of semester preparation and personal obligations (not to mention we technically live in different states in a tristate area, so the drive was definitely not equidistant).
Myself and my friend who initially pitched the idea met up for one 3-hour writing stretch and it was…awesome. I made some major progress on a new project and enjoyed the quiet company of my friend. It reminded us both of our dissertation writing days, but with way less anxiety lol We did not imbibe wine, but we did enjoy some snacks and caffeinated beverages. We even spent some of the time outside on the deck which wasn’t quite overlooking a field or lake, but which was pleasant nonetheless.
My advice to those of you who yearn for a writing retreat but are strapped for cash, time, and logistical wiggle room is, interestingly, mixed: If you are planning last-minute, as we were, then make it as easy as possible on everyone to participate (zoom). If you are planning well in advance, then take it up a notch and go whole hog with an airbnb in a remote location because a) you deserve it and b) investment often leads to more investment. People are way less likely to back out if they’ve already coughed up a deposit and had the time to figure out logistics. Finally, if neither option is feasible, make it happen as best you can. My friend and I could have thrown in the towel when the rest of our group couldn’t make it, but we didn’t. And I’m so glad we made the effort. I could have even taken myself on a writing date in a location other than my home for some focused writing time (although I work best with the support of others). The point is, make it happen if you can how you can. You won’t be sorry.
Do you all have other creative approaches to making a writing retreat happen? I’d love to hear them.