Thinking About Attending a Writer’s Retreat?

At the beginning of the year, I hadn’t planned to go on a writing retreat sponsored by the Manuscript Academy. My current work in progress wasn’t at a stage for feedback yet, and the project I’d been querying was my focus at the previous year’s retreat.

But by the time March rolled around, I had made significant progress, and my tax return came in significantly higher than I expected. I took a chance and asked if there was still room. Lucky for me, there was.

I’m so glad I went. The writing drills were excellent. Our first one was focused on writing apologies. What if there was a “Department of Unsent Apologies”? Then we used a river visualization to show how our story changes. I’m not a very good artist, but I could draw a meandering line to show how my character changed as she faced bumpier waves, then had to prepare for the exhilarating rapids. Best of all, we did a session on pitching, focusing on getting the hooks front and center.

As great as the content was, the best thing about the retreat was interacting with other writers. Some face the same obstacles I do. Others have figured a way over them and shared how they did it. Hearing from other writers’ experiences is a great lesson.

But the absolute best part was meeting my former critique partner in person. Sure, we had many Zoom sessions, but meeting face-to-face in person was better. Plus, we were at a great resort with plenty of eating and drinking establishments.

If you’re a writer reading this and wondering if it’s worth it to attend a writer’s retreat, take my word for it. Do it! You’ll learn a few new skills, but best of all, you may make some new writer friends that could help you through the rest of your writing journey.