My at-home writing retreat & how I wrote 20,000 words in 3.5 days
I think a lot of writers dream of going on a writing retreat, myself included. But I decided to bring the retreat to me instead!
The beginning of the year is always a bit slow for freelance work, and I had an itch to spend a few days working on my next book. At this point, I had a solid outline and had written the first 7 or 8 chapters. So I decided to set aside 4 days to do a little at-home writing retreat, just me and my beloved computer. Here’s my experience, and some advice if you’d like to do something similar!
My solo, at-home writing retreat prep
I genuinely wanted to treat my retreat as a capital r Retreat—as if I’d signed up, traveled to a quaint cottage in the Cotswolds, and had time dedicated solely to writing. I looked at my schedule and chose 4 weekdays that looked like they’d work well, and then I drafted up a daily schedule. After thinking on it, I was pretty satisfied going into Day 1 with this schedule:
7am wakeup, do some kind of movement like a walk or a stretch
8am writing session
10am break (this also usually involved a snack, and I set the rule of 10 minutes max on social media)
10:30am writing session
12:30pm workout time
1:30pm lunch
2pm afternoon writing session
4pm reading and/or journaling for about an hour
optional evening/post-dinner writing sessions as desired
I definitely left the option open to change this if it didn’t suit me, but I ended up really liking this schedule and it was my goal every day (except for the last day, which I’ll get to in a minute).
The weekend before, I stopped by Trader Joe’s to get snacks and meals so that mealtimes would be easy to figure out. I also scoured resources online for inspiration and to get excited for my 4 days of dedicated writing time. I made sure I had my book’s outline handy and knew which scenes I’d be diving into.
Then, I set some goals.
Retreat goals
I wanted to spend my days focused on writing. This meant minimal social media throughout the day (and honestly at night, too), and I avoided television (save for one episode of GBBO with my husband one night, and a few YouTube vids to wind down). I opted for no alcohol at night so I could get the best night’s sleep possible, too.
I wanted to increase my writing output, even by a little. I knew what I could write on an average day when I have other things to focus on, so I tacked on a little extra to that word count and set that as my goal—10,000. Attainable, but a bit more word count for 4 days than I do on a normal day. I also set a stretch goal of 20,000.
I wanted to write without self-editing along the way. I tend to edit my writing as I go which so many writers will advise you not to do, but I can’t help it! I’m a perfectionist. But while it does mean my first drafts are a bit more polished, it also means it takes me way longer to get to that first draft. I wanted to kick that habit, even just for those 4 days, and see how it felt. I was particularly inspired by this thread by author Jesse Q. Sutanto.
40K in basically 3 days? I mean!! 😮
I definitely didn’t expect to hit numbers quite as high because this was a switch on how I write, but it ended up being a really positive change for me. I followed her guidance of 15 minutes writing, 2 minutes break. Every hour, I got up at least once and paced my room. I wrote as much as I could during my fifteen minutes, and I didn’t edit—just kept focused on telling the story I’d outlined.
The results?
Day 1: 6,546 words
Day 2: 6,765 words
Day 3: 6,902 words
Day 4: 1,295 words
TOTAL: 21,508 words
Look, everyone’s daily writing capabilities are different, but I share these numbers because they are significantly higher than my typical daily word counts (remember, 10K was my goal, which would have been over my normal word count anyway—20K was a stretch goal). I wasn’t editing as I wrote, so was the quality as good? Probably not. But I did power through a big chunk of the middle of my book, and no book gets written on the first go. Or the second, or the fifth. There is so much editing and revision involved, and you simply can’t edit or revise until something is written.
You might also notice that my Day 4 was pretty dismal in comparison, and that’s because I was completely burnt out. I woke up and wanted to be horizontal and resting all day. I tried writing a little but I could just tell it wasn’t the same—my brain felt foggy and sloth-like. So rather than push myself even more, I called that the last day, packed my bags, and went home (aka straight to bed). I’ll be honest—it was a somewhat disappointing ending to an otherwise stellar few days, but ultimately I did what I set out to do so that’s a plus all around!
At-home writing retreat tips
Not everyone will enjoy a writing retreat at home, but I loved it. I wasn’t distracted by a new environment which would absolutely happen if I traveled somewhere (sorry, Cotswolds 😪), and I quite literally had all the comforts of home whenever I needed or wanted them, like afternoon indoor bike rides or kitty cuddles throughout the day. Plus, the lack of financial risk meant there was zero pressure to make my retreat “worth it.” At the end of the day, I achieved all my goals and boosted my confidence as a writer.
Also, I proved to myself that I could operate well in a retreat environment, so I feel better about investing in one outside of my house sometime in the future. Although, to be honest, I’m already planning my next at-home retreat because it was relatively easy to pull together and a lot of fun.
Here are my best pieces of advice if you’d like to do your own writing retreat at home:
Plan. Draft up a schedule, think on it, then revise. Buy groceries in advance. Prep your space and optimize it for your retreat (invest a little money here if needed and you’re able, or borrow from people, to get the best setup). Set personal goals. And, very important!, have at least a vague idea of what you want to write. Part of why I was able to forge ahead confidently was because I’d done a rough overview of each scene in my book, so I never had the question of what to write.
Set aside the time. I think 3-4 days is great, because you really get into a groove by the middle of day 2. You can absolutely get away with shorter time periods if that’s all your schedule will allow, and I personally wouldn’t want to do much longer than that (my burnt out-edness by the morning of Day 4 is proof).
Tell friends and family what you’re doing, especially people you live with. Let them know this is important and what, if any, expectations or requests you might have of them.
Listen to your body. There were some afternoons where I cut my writing time a little short and tacked on more time at the end of the day, and one day where I didn’t do an intense workout and instead just stretched. I also didn’t push to the bitter end and called things early on Day 4. This all required honesty and compassion with myself. I could really tell how exhaustion and feeling drained affected my writing abilities, so I gave myself a break when I needed it.
Get outside and socialize, if possible. I think my downfall was that I had very little interaction with other people for three and a half days. I would go on morning walks if I felt like it, but otherwise, I stayed inside. I wrote at home, I worked out at home, I ate at home…efficient, yes, but draining. I think scheduling calls with friends or going out to a coffee shop just to be around people for a while could be helpful.
Celebrate! Even if you don’t achieve your goals for the retreat, making any kind of forward progress is a step in the right direction. I went out to a restaurant I really like for dinner and some much-deserved wine on the last day of my retreat.
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