Blogocentric Formulations

Writing Retreat

Prompt #109: Describe your dream writing retreat. Where is it? Who’s there?

My answer to this question has evolved over the years. The two main criteria I'd look for in a writing retreat these days are things that probably wouldn't have even made my Top 5 list a decade ago:

         1. Nature
         2. Community

Ten years ago, I would have told you that my ideal writing retreat was somewhere urban, just me and a hotel room. Get me a reasonably appointed, quiet hotel room in Manhattan to write in that has plenty of quality food options around for whenever I wanted to come up for some air, and I would have thought that's the perfect writing environment. Solitude and isolation.

I've since come to accept that a fairly large part of me is connection-oriented, and I need time around other people to contrast with the time spent alone. I've also come to appreciate the natural world more than I have in the past. Maybe it's twenty-plus years of working in office buildings and living in a city; maybe it's all this climate change threatening to torch the planet before I get a chance to see much more of it's unspoiled splendor. Either way, I often find myself craving time to appreciate the great outdoors.

To be clear, when I say "appreciate," I mean from a distance. I am not a camper, hiker, climber, birdwatcher, skier, cyclist, fisherman, or anything along those lines. I was "up close and personal" with nature in my youth more than enough to last a lifetime, so when I talk about appreciating nature, I mean the mountains from the comfort of a cabin. Or the beach from an ocean-facing balcony at a resort.

Based on those two criteria, I could see doing an ideal type of writer's retreat at a place like The Inn at The Presidio   in San Francisco, California. (I actually have stayed there before, and it's delightful). I imagine there'd be some sort of program in place; one or two dozen writers having breakfast together, maybe a couple of optional seminars or discussion groups throughout the day, a walk around the Presidio in the afternoon to get the blood pumping, and then perhaps an evening chat around the fire pit once the day is done. Other than that, it's just you in your room with your laptop, typewriter, pen and paper, etc. Guests could attend as few or as many of the "group" activities as they wanted, dropping in when it was convenient for them, or keeping to themselves while the words were flowing.

For me, talking about writing and creativity is what inspires me to write. I'll have a conversation with someone about screenwriting and think, "Oh man, I miss that. I want to be writing a script right now!" Or I'll help someone talk through a story structure or character problem and get the urge to work on something of my own. So plenty of opportunities to connect and converse with other writers (but not too many so as to provide a distraction!) would be an ideal writing retreat scenario for me, especially if it took place somewhere that I could appreciate the great outdoors (in small doses) when I need to get out of my room and stretch my legs for a bit.