The Writer's Retreat: Our Guide to Creating Your Own

CY and I are both working on the second drafts of our fantasy manuscripts and some days the struggle to get those words out is real, especially as we both work full time jobs. That's why we started doing our own writer's retreats, which really helped us in our push to get our first drafts completed. We have increased them in frequency over the last years, and this year we have done three with the hopes of getting our current drafts over the finish line.

In this blog post I'll share with you our tips for making the most of the time you've set aside, with something to match every budget.

Step 1: The Venue

When we are planning a writer's retreat our first consideration is where it will take place. Depending on how much time and the budget we have available, we will either do a stay-at-home retreat or splash out on a hotel or Airbnb. We have yet to try going abroad for our retreat but that is definitely on the list!

The most easily accessible is the stay-at-home writer's retreat, which we like as it costs very little and can be done when we only have a day or two to spare. If you're choosing this option, then we recommend doing what you can to make your space as relaxing as possible and working in the part of your house that has the most natural light.

Hiring an Airbnb costs a little more, but we have found some really cute spaces that were definitely worth splashing out on. Being away from home really helped to bring out our creativity, and we are both living in the city so we always try to choose places surrounded by nature for a change of scenery. These 2 gems were our favourites so far, as they were both very comfortable with plenty of cosy spots for writing, gorgeous décor and pretty walking routes nearby. We especially loved the sun room at the Cotswolds house, which captured a lot of light for those early morning writing sprints.

Our latest retreat was at an all-inclusive spa hotel, which was quite the treat as we were catered 3 meals per day, had spa access and we both indulged in a relaxing massage at the end of the trip as a reward for all of our hard work. This was the first time we tried this format, and we both found it to be a very productive environment for writing and the creativity was flowing in abundance throughout the weekend. We chose Champney's Henlow because of the stunning setting, old-world charm of the manor house, and the close proximity to London whilst still feeling a world away from the hustle and bustle of the city. If you haven't already, head over to our TikTok and Youtube channels to check out our videos of this gorgeous place.

Step 2: The Schedule

Whatever format you choose, an integral part of any writer's retreat is the schedule. Planning your days out in detail in advance frees your brain up from making decisions throughout the weekend and allows you to focus on what you came here to do.

It is of course important to ensure that you maximise your writing time, but if you're anything like us you'll burn out if you schedule too much in one day. We tend to aim for 6-8 hours per day, and be sure to intersperse this with plenty of rest and enough sleep to stop your brain from melting. We found our writing sessions are most productive when we split these blocks up into a series of 20-30 minute writing sprints with a 5 minute break in between each sprint.

Try to schedule in some light physical activity if possible, such as yoga or going for a walk, as this will help you to avoid your body becoming stiff and we found it awakened our creative brains. Perhaps a little too much in the case of one retreat, where a wintery walk amongst the grounds of the cottage turned into us brainstorming a thriller novel based in that setting, being suspicious of every person we encountered (yes, we even ran away from the lovely old lady walking her cute dog), and inadvertently scaring ourselves for the rest of the weekend.

We also try to schedule in some creative workshops to help us feel focussed and excited to write. We usually take it in turns to plan a session for the day, and we've found that YouTube has some great resources such as this guided meditation:

Remember, it's not supposed to feel like a chore. The retreat should be a fun experience and something you look forward to, so be sure to curate it to your own preferences. We use Canva to create our schedule and we like to invest time in making it look pretty and printing it out to take with us and put on the wall. We particularly love this template that we used for our August 2024 retreat:

Step 3: Create a meal plan

This only really applies if you're doing a stay-at-home retreat, or hiring an accommodation with kitchen facilities such as an Airbnb. When planning our meals we are aiming for options with quick prep time whilst still being healthy, and we find that having left overs from dinner for lunch the following day is a good way to save time. Also, remember to treat yourself to your favourite foods so mealtimes feel like an indulgence. Be sure to also buy any extra snacks you might need and of course we always take lots of tea and hot chocolate!

We then make a shopping list and get everything we need in advance so that we can avoid running errands over the weekend. We like to set this out in a similar way to our schedule and we usually print this off too and hang it somewhere in the kitchen. This is an example of the meal plan we made for our August 2024 retreat:

We prefer to stay at the venue for the most-part, but it can always be nice to plan an afternoon tea or a visit to a cute cafe for a change of scenery. We particularly find this helpful when doing a stay-at-home retreat, but remember the aim is to make your life as easy as possible so try not to plan anything with too much travel or that will distract you from your main goal.

Step 4: Set your Goals

We have done these retreats throughout all stages of our writing journey for our current manuscripts, and we always try to think in advance about what we want to achieve over the weekend. We try to make our goals ambitious but still realistic, although Kay did once manage to hit a 15,000 word count goal in order to finish her first draft by the deadline, so don't underestimate what you can achieve when you give yourself permission to devote your time to writing.

We usually try to set an overall goal, and then break this down into daily goals and a to-do list that you can have the satisfaction of ticking off. We use Trackbear to keep track of our progress each day towards our overall goal, and if you don't manage to hit any individual goal just remember you have the entire weekend to achieve what you're aiming for. And remember, any amount of writing you manage to do is a bonus as it gets you one step closer to a completed manuscript.

After that there is nothing left to do but pack, mentally prepare yourself and enjoy your retreat!

I hope you will find this guide useful in curating your own writer's retreat and we would love to see photos and videos if you do, so be sure to tag us on your socials @theshameshelf.

Do you have any tips for creating your own writer's retreat? Have you tried our recommendations? Let us know in the comments below!