Writer’s Retreat

I attended my first writers’ retreat last month and what a treat it was! For nine days with Sage Hill Writing, I luxuriated in hours of quiet, getting the second draft of the second novel down. There were consults with the wonderful Yasuko Thanh, craft discussions with the fiction group, and meals I didn’t cook. I should do this every year, I thought to myself. No, twice a year.

St. Peter’s Abbey, Muenster, SK

I came in thinking I’d be writing in my every free time, but that didn’t happen. Or rather, it wasn’t meant to happen. The trails around the abbey beckoned. The characters asked questions which made me question my plot, my pacing. Overwhelm set in. On the seventh day, I woke up thinking I don’t want to write today. I just want to think about the story, the characters. I’ve gotten over the guilt of not being productive enough by then.

A trail towards the highway – St. Peter’s Abbey, Muenster, SK.

A realisation: plenty of free time does not equate to more writing. The mind, even if familiar with the ins-and-outs of the writing project, imposes its own retreat. On a Skype call with my husband, he told me that some chess grand masters maintain an exercise regimen—their physical fitness is tied to their mental stamina. So I took walks, followed exercise videos in my dorm room. Fed myself well but not too much. Drank a lot of tea.

I’m back in my non-retreat life now and I’m trying to recapture that peace, that sense of ease accompanying the belief that things come on their own time. With items on my schedule: writing projects, manuscript consults, co-editing an anthology, a promotion at work, loved ones to cherish, world events hovering over day-to-day realities, being relaxed is proving to be a challenge. I must get better at it though—I find that as I get older, seeking calm is becoming a necessity.

Featured photo © 2023 Leah Ranada