Reflections on a Writer’s Retreat
Swiping the plastic card across the digital panel, a green light lit up and a click indicated the room was now unlocked. I pushed the heavy door inward and eyed the generic but spacious room. A large bed with its head against one wall, complete with standard pillows and hotel duvet spread across the end, filled the middle third of the room; an entertainment center with Tv, microwave, fridge, and drawers stood directly across from the foot of the bed. The first third of the room where I stood, holding the handle of my small roller suitcase, had the sink area and ever-important coffee maker along with a closet area and then a bathroom to my right. I peeked in—yay, a tub, small but doable for a solitary soak!
Finally, I headed to the final third of the room, the main reason I was here in this hotel. On one side was a loveseat with a small coffee table, and on the other side was a computer chair at a medium sized desk finished off with several outlets and an Edison lamp. One of the small ends of the desk was pushed against the wall, meaning I could put the chair on one of the long sides and look out the large window filling almost the entire end of the room. The large window provided a beautiful view of the Spokane river and the river walk with evergreen trees king the bank across. Perfect for me to look out upon for inspiration as I wrote! For the zoom meetups I would be doing, I could move the chair to the other side of the desk so that my background was either that view or the closed curtains at night and not the bedroom area.
It was everything I needed for an amazing retreat experience with Realm Makers Winter Writer’s Retreat, and here are three of my takeaways for maximizing a virtual retreat.
1. Invest in Your Experience: This is now my second virtual writing retreat or conference, and I have found that though I cannot attend in person sometimes (additional flight and travel expenses like transportation and food are not always in the cards), it is still important to create a retreat-like environment. I booked a hotel for two of the weekend nights of the retreat in order to maximize my time with the retreat materials that weekend. Of course, I would have loved to be in a hotel for the entire retreat, but the investment you are making must still be in line with your budget! I strategically planned for some Starbucks stays, as well as work time in our dining room at home--with clear boundaries established with my family--for the other days of the retreat. (Another budget tip: The hotel I picked provided breakfast and a salad bar one of the nights and then had a fridge and microwave in the room so I could bring my own food for my other meals. Also, this is the same hotel I stayed at for part of the virtual conference last summer, so I got the returner’s rate.) Even though I was not traveling across the country to the Chesapeake, I could still set aside that weekend and make it a retreat of my own.
2. Participate! Sometimes a virtual experience can be easy to push aside or disengage from, but if you are choosing a virtual retreat or conference, take advantage of all that they offer. Watch all the sessions and take notes and write down your questions. If they have a chat for virtual participants, say hi and introduce yourself to the other participants. If they have zoom forums for virtual attendees to meet up, show up and put yourself out there. I am naturally an introvert and am fairly reserved, but talking with fellow writers is so encouraging. Writing can be such an isolating pursuit, but even a virtual retreat or conference can help you build or expand your writerly community if you put yourself out there in whatever opportunities are provided. The questions we had were passed on to the instructor, and I got to have a sample of my novel critiqued, as well as offered feedback to others’. We even got to help each other with our branding and marketing and compared websites. So, in addition to making a few new writerly friends, I also gained valuable feedback personal to my own manuscript and website.
3. Make an Action Plan: If you have carved out the time for your investment and have committed to participating in the content as fully as possible, then lastly, set some goals before returning to your “normal” life. It is easy to be extremely excited after a retreat or conference because you have been pumped up and have learned so much, but it is also so easy to let all that fall away within a few short days if you do not have a plan. Take a few minutes to make a feasible plan that incorporates your main takeaways for where you are in your writerly journey. I like to include an immediate step, an intermediate action item, and a long-term goal. My immediate step if achieved gives me confidence and keeps that momentum building that I had at the retreat. Ideally, this will allow you to keep pushing forward on your intermediate objective, and, ultimately, produce that domino effect to your long-term goal. My immediate goal was to finish and publish my website based on the feedback I received and the marketing techniques that James L. Rubart taught at the retreat. My intermediate objective is to have the first 3 chapters of my novel revised (based on feedback from the writers in our zoom critique workshop) and ready for my Paid Critique with a multi-published writer this spring. Lastly, my long-term goal is to have a completed manuscript by July ready to pitch at the Realm Makers Writer’s Conference this summer.
I have already checked off my immediate goal, and I am using that momentum to keep me going on my intermediate and long-term aims. Writing is an ongoing process, and sometimes it feels like it is never-ending and never good enough, but if we can break down our goals into steps that can be checked off (and celebrate each one when you do!), then you can build your confidence as a writer even with work perpetually in progress.
And THAT is why I loved attending a Writer’s Retreat this February. It gave me a check-in point nearly halfway in the calendar between last year’s writing conference that I attended virtually, and Realm Makers Writing Conference I will be going to this July. Winter writer check-ins, whether a retreat or a mini conference or virtual or in-person, give you a chance to re-invest in your writing, receive and give feedback, and rebuild momentum. I would highly recommend that every writer not only attend a conference in the summer, but also put at least one retreat or mini conference, even if virtual, on the calendar to keep growing and keep the words flowing.
