Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Highly Recommended: Writers Retreats

The past four days, I have been sitting and writing furiously at a writers retreat hosted by Mitch Reyes at Lewis and Clark College, Portland, Oregon. I have yearned to participate in a writing retreat for the entire time that I have been on the faculty end of my academic career. I am so glad my yearning became a reality, finally.

So I am taking a break this fourth day of retreat to encourage you to consider a writing retreat in your near future. Whether you take a retreat by yourself, or join a group as I did, it is definitely worthwhile. In fact, my roommate and I have covenanted to find one day a month as a 'writing retreat' day, where we can spend all day working on a project.

Here are the benefits of the writers/writing retreat, as I am experiencing them:

a. Having several others (in my case, 23 others) all focused on writing is the best social pressure to get your own writing juices flowing.

b. Sometimes when you have a large project, having a focused writing time is the best way to get it off the ground, make good progress, and therefore feel encouraged to trudge on towards completion.

c. It provides you with accountability during the retreat, and if you design it intentionally, continued accountability afterwards. You can have one or two writing partners with whom you communicate your writing goals and your completion rates as frequently as you agree upon.

d. Most of us have so much else going on in our lives that though we want to, developing a daily writing habit and sustaining it is difficult. I believe it is easier to develop said habit after a writing retreat, because your juices are flowing and you are more motivated to keep it up.

e. The organized writing retreats include sessions aimed at discussing writing tips and raising questions. The shared wisdom is priceless. Finding out that you are not the only one who struggles with various writing issues helps to come up with solutions that have worked for others.

When all is said and done, I am enjoying this writers retreat because it is also perhaps the first time in many years I have done something that is purely just for me - I do not need to prove anything to anyone, I do not need to engage in impression management (which, whether I am conscious of it or not, always takes place in academic conferences), I can focus on just spending time with myself. Already, I feel refreshed and renewed, ready to tackle whatever lies ahead in the coming academic year.

I therefore highly recommend writers retreats. The communitas, camaraderie, support, and buzz will keep you energized long after the retreat concludes.