094: The DIY Writing Retreat - My Best Tips and Advice

 

I did something impulsive - I booked a two day writing retreat! I'm working on revisions to my book and wanted to set aside dedicated time to work on them. I've never done anything like this before so it was a big learning experience for me. Listen for the good, the bad, the progress I made, and the lessons I learned

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the diy writing retreat - my best tips and advice

Hello, hope you're having a fabulous day, I did something kind of spur the moment, it's something that's been on my bucket list for a while. The idea of doing a writing retreat. Now I want to make it clear, this wasn't like a scheduled organized thing that someone else did, where I paid money to go do this, I just decided to book a hotel room for two nights and shut myself in and write by myself. I'm calling it a writing retreat, because that's kind of what it was. But it wasn't like an organized thing. That is still something that's on my bucket list. Like I've seen writing retreats where you go away for four days, or five days or a week or even just a weekend somewhere like a cabin, or, you know, somewhere fun and an organization puts it on like a literary center, or just someone in the writing world, we'll put on these retreats where there's discussion and maybe some classes or maybe it's just you go and you are in community with other writers. And you are all working on your works in progress. And of course, there's time for like hikes and meals and all that good stuff. I that's definitely still on my bucket list. I really, really, really want to do that.

But this was just something that I booked to kind of spur the moment, like I said, again, because I'm getting to that point in pregnancy where I am not going to want to travel. And like soon I'm 27 weeks at the time I'm recording this. And when I did the writing retreat, and I went to Beaufort, South Carolina, which is about an hour and a half from Charleston, so it was close I drove it was totally fine. But I'm getting to the point where I'm going to want to be sticking close to home soon, like next month, probably. So I felt like I had a really limited window of when I could do this. And also, I have a limited window in terms of just my work schedule.

I've got a lot of editing clients in August and July, even some of September. So it felt like for me to take a couple of days and do this, it just had to be it had to be now. So I decided to do it in Beaufort, because I live in Charleston, South Carolina, which is a very touristy area. I mean, Beauford is that as well. But Charleston is like a destination and Airbnb is here. I did not realize how expensive they were. That was my initial plan. I thought it'd be fun to get an Airbnb just within an hour of Charleston like a little cabin, a little tiny house, I thought that would be so fun. And the cheapest Airbnb that I could find was like, absurdly expensive and the actually the cheapest one that I could find was about five minutes down the road for me and I'm like that's stupid to do that.

I'm not going to spend all that money just to go five minutes away. So then I looked at hotel rooms in Charleston, and those are cheaper, but I'm again I'm like I don't, I don't know, maybe it'll feel weird to just be in Charleston. So that's how I set it all settled on Beaufort, because it was far enough away where I could felt like I was leaving my regular life and having this time this dedicated time to write. But it wasn't too far. And it also wasn't a super touristy area where I would be tempted to just go out and do a lot of things. That was advice that I actually got from someone on Threads. I posted on Threads about this and was like Hey, what are your tips if you've done this and someone said don't go to super touristy area.

I've been to Beaufort a couple times just for like a day at a time not long. But I've been there before so I kind of knew what the downtown was like where it was, you know, where it was all that all that stuff. So yeah, I knew I wasn't going to be tempted to like be out sightseeing all day. So I wanted to share in this episode, the lessons that I learned and what I'll do differently next time and what what well, and just kind of give you a rundown. So logistics I mentioned a lot of these already. I did two nights at a hotel I did Sunday through Tuesday at this hotel in Beaufort.

For sidenote that was actually a lot cheaper to do it that way. That's why I did it Sunday to Tuesday as opposed to like a weekend. So that helped. I brought snacks and food and I brought my laptop, a separate keyboard, a mouse and then just comfy cool close. And what else did I bring? I guess that's about it. Yeah. So in my goal, my intention for this, I'm working on edits to my book that is currently in submission, I'm making some changes to it. And I, the changes that I'm making require me to overhaul the first like eight chapters or so. And I had done chapters one and two already at home, like within the last couple of weeks, so those were good. So my goal was to do chapters three through seven, or ideally three through eight on this writing, retreat. And then also get as far as I could with editing the second half of the book, because the early pages are changing so much, it's impacting some stuff that happens in the second half of the book, and I wanted to get as far as I could with editing that, so that was that was the goal. That's the rundown.

Okay, let's talk about lessons learned. And what I would do differently next time. I recognize that a lot of this, by the way, I'll just say a lot of this is like individual, you know, people have done this and shared with me what their experience was, when I was asking on Threads for tips. If you do this, you might have a totally different experience and learn different lessons. But this is just what I learned and how it went and all of that. Okay, number one, I think it's super important to be realistic about your goals and about how much you can get done. I mentioned my goal a second ago, which was way too ambitious.

What I ended up doing is I got through chapters three, through seven, which actually is a lot like I got through five chapters. And then I also just made some bullet points for chapter eight. So I kind of know what's going to be in chapter eight. I didn't do any editing, I don't have time for that. I didn't get that far. But what was interesting about the experiences, even though I got all of those chapters done, I still felt this sense of disappointment that I didn't get as much done as I wanted to, which is wild, because it would have taken me weeks and weeks to do five chapters. I mean, it.

Yeah, it would have taken me weeks, and I got that done in two days, which is fantastic. Now I was able to copy and paste a little bit of stuff from the old version into the new one. But a lot of it was just new scenes that I had to write. So when I think about it, and I look at that fact, objectively, that's awesome. Then I got five chapters written like that's huge. And yes, I, you know my process, I don't go edit, I don't edit as I write. So of course, I'm gonna have to go back and clean them up, of course, and add a little bit more maybe, but they're, they're on the page, and they're in pretty good shape. I think I haven't gone back to read them. But I think they're fun. They're like, okay, at least. So yeah, I think it's I think it's important to be realistic.

And I didn't know, I mean, I just didn't know what was is realistic in terms of output. I didn't know because I've never done anything like this. I'm not someone who does full writing days ever. I don't think I have ever done that. I've done full editing days, where I'm working on editing a manuscript before sending it to like my agent or something. And I'm on a deadline. But yeah, never, never full writing that writing day. So but yeah, I think being realistic. And I knew when I was setting that goal is probably too ambitious. But yeah, and, and the flip side of that is like celebrate the progress that you make. Because even if you just write a chapter or two on your writing retreat, like that's still a chapter or two that you got done that you would have had to do anyway, like outside of that at a different time. So that's, that's progress. And that's amazing. Number two is similar to this kind of related but the lesson is to take your writing style and your output into account.

Again, it is very difficult for me to do a full writing day. It's not something I do, that's just not how I work. And I thought that I was going to be able to do a lot more writing in the afternoon on Monday than I did. So because I split it I did Sunday night I did some writing Sunday night, which was great. Got a lot done Monday morning. And then Monday afternoon after lunch. I just like hit a wall and I took a long nap because I didn't sleep well the night before. You know sleeping in hotel room when I'm pregnant and I didn't bring my frickin pregnancy pillow which is if you if you have been pregnant, you know but if not, it's like this giant pillow. It's like a body pillow essentially and I didn't think it was helping that much but it oh it's it helps my hips and my back.

So I didn't sleep very well. So I took a long nap. And then I just was so groggy after the nap, that I couldn't get focused. And I didn't really have a lot of motivation to get back to writing. So then I did a little bit, I had dinner, and I did some stuff in the evenings. So that was fine. And then, of course, you know, Wednesday morning or Tuesday morning, I did some stuff before I left. But yeah, you know,I have to take that into account. That is very difficult for me to write in the afternoons. I was that way before pregnancy, it's not a pregnancy thing. I just, if I'm gonna write, it's got to be in the morning, or maybe maybe in the evening, I feel like I can do some work in the evening.

Yeah, so think about your writing style, think about your output. Think about the optimal conditions, the best way that you work. If I were doing this, again, I would definitely add another full day into this because I think it was hard. I really had two mornings. I had not even two full mornings, because I had to check out at the hotel mid morning on Tuesday. So it wasn't even a full morning. But my best writing was done Monday morning. And I wish I would have had another full day to to do this. So I would even say next time, I think I'm going to try three nights. And then just give myself a break in the afternoon to go do something else. And then come back and write later.

But yeah, just take that into account when you're thinking about a writing retreat like this. Instead of feeling like you have to be writing every single minute or you're not doing it right. Lesson number three is to take breaks, even if you don't feel like it. This is something that is hard for me to do when I'm working. And it's a good problem to have where where I get into something, I'm feeling good. I'm like nine keep going, I don't need a break, I don't need a break. And then I go too long without a break. And then my brain gets fuzzy and I just hit a wall. And I need to start taking breaks before I hit that wall before I approach that point. So, I think it's a good idea just in general to take breaks regularly, even if you don't feel like you need them.

And technically, like you could keep working. For me this was watching TV. Scrolling on TikTok. I've logged the a lot of the day. So it was like creating content and recording stuff. I went down to the fitness center and walked in the treadmill for a bit. When got food. Those breaks were essential like getting out of the room. Even if I didn't, you know, especially in the morning, I was like no, I'm good. But they're important. Just giving your brain a break. Giving your eyes a break is important. Lesson number five, do everything you can to be as comfortable as possible. This is a big lesson for pregnant me. But it's also a big blessing for just anyone doing this. Comfy clothes.

Yes. And I feel like I did pack comfy clothes where I was, you know that that was fine. The desk in the hotel room was not comfy. The chair was horrible. And it was also too low. And I tried putting a pillow like sitting on a pillow to raise myself up and that just didn't work. I knew my wrists would get sore after like 10 minutes or writing. So that was not great. You know, I did think ahead and I made sure that the hotel room I booked had a desk. But yeah, that that wasn't going to work. So that meant that I was writing on the bed. And there was a little like bench next to the TV next to the dresser. So I wrote on that as well. And it was hard to get comfortable. Because I'm sitting on these hard surfaces, I'm sitting in bed, my back is sore because I'm pregnant and it gets sore from sitting in one place for too long. Like it was just not great.

So then I would you know part of my break was I would like lay down or get up and walk or something because I just couldn't physically I was not comfortable. So that I think that really had an impact on how much I was able to write. To be honest, I feel like I probably could have gotten more done if I had a good setup a good desk, I would definitely bring a monitor next time. If I if I assuming that I had a good desk where I could work I would bring a separate monitor. I did bring a keyboard. But then I realized that I forgot the USB plug in it's one of those wireless like Bluetooth keyboards, and I forgot the plugin to plug in my computer so I couldn't use it. So I had to be typing on my laptop. Yeah, again, just like anything you can do to make yourself comfortable to have multiple writing surfaces.

That was a tip from someone else that I got to make sure you have multiple writing spaces or options so that you can move around. I thought that was a great piece of advice. And I would echo that. I think that that helped, just to mix it up. But yeah, I think the comfort thing is so important because it has a direct impact on how much you're able to do. And then the last lesson is the importance of a reward when you are done with the retreat. In some ways, it is a luxury and a reward. And a wonderful thing to be able to do something like this, to have the financial means to do this, to have the time freedom to do this, like this is great, even be able to take time away and do this. But you like I did a lot of writing way more than I ever normally do in a very short period of time, with not a lot of sleep with being physically not super comfortable.

And yeah, I needed to reward myself and I didn't really think of that until Tuesday morning when I was leaving. I didn't give myself enough time to go downtown Beaufort. So I actually went downtown Beaufort for lunch and Monday, I had every intention of getting some food. I found like what I thought was a little market where I could go pick something up and then bring it back to the hotel. But it turned out to be a sit down restaurant that had a wait. So then I went to another place and same thing, there was a wait and I got so hot walking around, it was like 94 degrees outside, you know, it's 12:30 the height of summer in the south, humidity was insane. I'm like dripping sweat. I just got so overwhelmed and miserable that I just went back to the hotel room.

So that wasn't a good experience. But then Tuesday morning, I went and had breakfast, while a little breakfast after I checked out of the hotel. And that was kind of nice walk down by the water. But I didn't have very long to do that I had to get back for something that I had in the calendar at one on Tuesday. So I knew it was going to take me about an hour and a half, I wanted to give myself an hour and a half to drive back. So yeah, I would plan that a little bit differently next time and make sure to give myself time to like decompress and have some fun. Just check out the space a little bit more, check out the town. You know, again, I had been there before but you for it's really cool to have a cool downtown area and I would have liked more time to just explore.

So I think the importance of a reward can't be overstated. Something some little treat, at least for when you get done because again, like even if you only write a chapter or two on your writing retreat, like that's, that deserves to be celebrated. And I so often don't take my own advice about this where I mean I'm sure you could hear it earlier where I was sort of disappointed that I didn't get farther but I have to just remind myself like five chapters written is still really friggin great. And I have to celebrate that. So um, yeah, that's the the skinny on the whole writing retreat and my lessons learned. I did a vlog about the can check out on TikTok. That goes over, you know, the highlights, and it film everything, obviously, but goes over the highlights of what the experience was like. So if you want to see that you can check it out.

And yeah, I definitely think this is something that I'm going to try again, might not be for a while with a baby coming. But I would do three days. And I would make sure to carve out some time in the afternoon where I'm not writing because I think in the long term that will actually be more effective and efficient for me. And again, it's all about embracing and being realistic about your writing style, your output your conditions. And if you're new and you don't know what your ideal conditions are, you don't know what your output is. This is a great way to experiment. This is a great way to like see what works for you and what doesn't work. I mean, I didn't know a lot of this going into it. I had some advice from other people, but honestly, I was scared that I would just write a little bit and then just like watch TV. Like I would procrastinate and get so overwhelmed and just not want to write that I would just watch TV in the hotel room for eight hours. Monday. I was afraid there's part of me that was like, am I just going to waste this? But happy to report I didn't. So yeah, that is my that is my DIY writing retreat. Grateful I got the chance to do it and to share about it with all of you. Thank you so much for tuning in.

Katie Wolf