This is the time of year when a woman’s thoughts turn to holidays – turquoise seas and brilliant sunshine – at least that’s what the travel operators are banking on. But holidays are luxuries and I suspect fewer people will be affording holidays in the coming year, especially women – the consensus being that the recession has hit women hardest. I’m certainly sure it’s hit those with the least the hardest, be they women or men.
So I wonder where the recession leaves those tempting writing retreats/residential courses that seem to be advertised everywhere I look? I have to admit I’m very taken with the idea of joining one but I have other financial priorities.
Do you also dream of a writing retreat – on a golden isle somewhere or in stylishly converted barn, with an inspiring author on hand and great writing companions? If you do but suspect you’re not going to find the money anytime soon then why not organise your own retreat – a little nearer home, a day perhaps, maybe more, for the cost of coffee and cake and lunch out (or sandwiches) – a little less exotic I know, but if you want to know more about homegrown retreats sign up for my newsletter (here on the right). This week’s newsletter has competition details, as well as my plan for organising your very own writing retreat.
If you are seriously thinking about joining a writing retreat/course, and want to make real progress with your work, I have it on good authority that ARVON is the place to go.
If you’ve been on a residential course or retreat I’d love to know what it was like and if it was worth it…
It interests me how we’re all very different in the game of writing. I once spent a weekend on something that might have been called a writing retreat in Scotland. Never again! I found it to be over populated by hobbyists playing at it, a milieu in love with turns of phrases, who thought that by ending every second sentence with the word ‘somehow’ made them writers. For me, a day in my own company to wonder and wander around a city, or along the coast works best. When I’m observing the world around me, including people, the last thing I want is to be engaged directly while ideas and inspiration are doing their work.
That’s so interesting Warren. I suspect I’m very much like you – ‘a day in my own company’ certainly serves me well, and downtime for walking or wandering is essential for the ideas to flow. This is probably why I think we can arrange our own retreats and certainly have done so myself. I think possibly what attracts me most in the ads are the places themselves – the Greek islands always look so inviting. Probably my best retreat was when I gave up the over-priced and less than helpful Creative Writing MA at UEA and spent the money I saved on staying in a wonderful town in France with Wendy – wrote a whole first draft there in 2 months, but then I was with someone equally obsessed with writing and it was sunny!
Two months in France to get down to a set project sounds like the real deal. And who is it I wonder, who sign up for ‘package writing holidays’. I dare say those with more money than ideas and intelligence. The trouble with being stuck with a group of writers you don’t know I’ve found is that, their work might inspire you, but they themselves might be dull as shit, or vice versa. I have a creative comrade as you have in Wendy, and come the better weather, we’ll be on a budget tramp looking for inspiration, probably Lake land, dossing in barns as Wainwright did in his day.