Stephanie, Jill, and I are back at our respective desks this week after six days together at a writing retreat on Puget Sound.

It was a lovely time away, and I thought it I’d give you a snapshot of our week as I share thoughts on why retreats like this are so beneficial, and how you can capture the feel and productivity of a retreat from your very own home.

Because, let’s be real, most of you aren’t traveling anywhere just now! You’re in high school, and retreating to a far away place to write isn’t exactly high on your parents’ priority list. The good news is you absolutely can replicate this kind of experience from home, so let’s talk about it.

First, what exactly is a writing retreat?

A writing retreat happens when you set aside time to focus on writing and writing alone. Oftentimes authors will go away for a retreat, just as the three of us went away to the Pacific Northwest. This is beneficial when you have kids to chase, and chores hounding you at home. But going away isn’t mandatory.

What is mandatory?

Setting aside time to focus solely on writing. Ideally, more than one day.

Why are writing retreats so beneficial?

When you carve out a chunk of time to write, you jump your project forward in more ways than one. As writers, we spend a lot of time talking about word counts, and while word counts are bound to go up during a retreat, by being in your story for extended periods of time, you’re also learning what doesn’t work, and scrapping ideas that have been rattling around in your head, stealing space that could be filled with new ideas.

When you dedicate more than one day in a row to thinking about your story and (almost) nothing else, that book of yours is incubating. It’s developing much faster than it would if you depended solely on occasional writing sessions. Something magic happens when you go to sleep firmly ensconced in your story, and wake up prepared to dive back in. It accelerates your progress.

Writing retreats are good for both your self-esteem and your momentum. We need periods of great productivity to prove to ourselves we can do this thing. I remember, fondly, the very first writing retreat I went on with Jill and Steph. It was eight years ago, and we were in South Lake Tahoe. I finished a book while we were there. I had earned myself a break, but when I got home, I couldn’t stop writing. The desire to work had taken hold, and it was that momentum that got me through an entire round of self-edits. Momentum is a powerful thing and retreats are a great way to start the engine.

We need that kind of spark from time to time, so even if it’s difficult to arrange, I highly recommend carving out time for a writing retreat. Yes, even if that means you park yourself on the couch or in your room for the weekend with no other goal than making progress on your WIP.

So, how in the world do I throw myself a writing retreat?

Schedule it: If you don’t schedule it, odds are, it won’t happen. Jill, Steph and I have talked about doing another retreat ever since we returned from our first one eight years ago, but it didn’t happen until we forced ourselves to put it on the calendar. I suspect the same will be true for you.

I suggest doing a little investigative work beforehand. Check out the family calendar. Run it by the adults in the household who have final say on where you have to be and when you have to be there, and pick two or three days in a row that you can dedicate solely to your current project. I’m talking dawn to dusk. Take advantage of the upcoming summer, and get your retreat on the calendar early.

Loop others in: This won’t look the same for everyone, but if you have a writer friend or two who can retreat with you, company can make this a rich experience. If your writer friend lives across the country, maybe schedule your meals together and video chat while you eat. If meals don’t work, consider picking one or two times a day for a phone call or video check in. This isn’t so much for accountability (though that’s always helpful), but for companionship. Writing like this can be lonely, and some friendly banter and encouragement can help get you through it.

Jill, Steph, and I use our meal times to brainstorm or run ideas by each other, and then we’d jump back into our work immediately after. We wrote until ten or eleven every night, and those quick chats were a bit like fuel.

Set a goal: This retreat was unique for me. I wasn’t in an active writing phase. I was in the middle of researching a historical, so I had a decision to make. Was I going to use this dedicated time to finish my research or to start a new project? There wasn’t a wrong answer, but I really, really wanted to stay in my historical, so I chose to simply bring my research with me and, while Jill and Steph were writing at the speed of light, I was reading and making notes. But I’m so glad that’s what I chose to do. By the last day, I was able to pen the first chapter of my new book, and I felt really good about it.

Whatever you decide to do, do that with your whole heart. Throw yourself into writing or editing or researching with a singular focus and get as much done as you can. Productivity is the name of the game.

Prepare: Have you ever participated in National Novel Writing Month? This is a little bit like that. Come time for your retreat, you want to know where you’re starting and what you’re doing. This is always a challenge for me because I’m not a plotter. I discovery write. But even discovery writers will benefit from thinking a few things through before the retreat begins.

Maybe create a beat sheet for the next scenes in your book. Maybe journal some from the point of view of your narrator. Maybe create a mood board (Jill brought a very detailed physical mood board with her all the way to Puget Sound, no joke), or a playlist, or character sketches. Consider writing a synopsis or a short summary of your story. By doing a little work ahead of time, you’ll move faster, and you’ll give yourself a better shot at staying focused.

Now, real talk, if you don’t have time to prep because life is crazy, don’t cancel your retreat. The whole point of dedicated time away is to make progress on your project. If progress is a plan, use your retreat to do that. There are no rules!

Stock the toolbox: Think hard about what you’ll need in order to stay put, and stay productive for the length of your retreat. Chargers, notebooks, pens, laptops, highlighters . . . all these things come to mind. Make sure to keep the tools you need within reach. And if you’re in a noisy house, or you share a room, or you cannot possibly manifest a cave to hide away in, consider earbuds or earphones. They don’t have to be fancy, but instrumental music pumped directly into our heads might be the closest some of us get to a quiet place in our own homes.

Plan your meals: I nearly left this out because, as teenagers, you’re likely to be at the mercy of whatever’s in the fridge, but if at all possible, think this through before you settle in. If you’re eating with your family, cool beans. If the meals are up to you, think simple and think ahead. You don’t want to have to stop and go grocery shopping and then prepare an entire meal before you can get back to work.

Three times during our six day trip, the three of us ate out. But mostly we stayed in. Before the writing began, we stocked up on bagels and English muffins, mac and cheese, salads, freezer pizzas, rotisserie chicken, coffee, tea, and . . . a treasure trove of candy, because writers need rewards.

Whatever you do, think ahead and streamline the process. I have friends who like cooking big meals each night of their retreat. If that’s you, that’s totally fine and it sounds like a blast, but think about how you can keep these break times productive. Brainstorming while eating is always a good use of time.

And finally . . .

Enjoy yourself: During the retreat, don’t feel you have to fret your way through it. You don’t have to be as fast as anyone else. You don’t have to get as much done. You simply want to make progress; that’s the BIG goal.

During our retreat last week, every one of us put our work down at times and wandered outside. We took walks and we thought, we picked up seashells, and we sat on the dock. We took cat naps (Okay, mostly me. I took the naps.), and we snapped pictures of the beautiful harbor and of Seattle away in the distance across the sound. We rested and we worked and, I think, that’s the best way to do this thing. Creativity flows when you’re not forcing it. So relax. Stay in your story, enjoy your characters, and the words will come.

Tell me, have you ever been on a writing retreat? Would you ever consider retreating from home?