In the past, I’ve written about the conferences and workshops I’ve attended and about saving up to mitigate their price tags.
But what if saving up isn’t an option for you right now? What if you’re trying to keep costs down, stay close to home, and give your writing life a productivity booster shot within those parameters?
If so, there’s nothing that says you can’t have a successful writing staycation, my term for a homemade writing retreat. In this blog post, we’ll focus on planning and prep work that will help you set yourself up for success so that when you hunker down and put pen to paper, you’ll have smooth sailing from beginning to end.
Planning a Writing Staycation.
First things first, set a goal for your writing staycation. I set a goal for every conference or workshop I attend to make sure I have an objective way to measure whether I got my bang for my buck, and I find it helpful to do this on writing retreats of my own devising too. That way, I know that I’m accomplishing what I set out to do, something I can’t achieve with the amorphous blob of a statement that is, “I just want to stay in and get some writing done.”
So, start by asking yourself questions like, How long will your staycation be? What do you hope to accomplish during it? Sample goals include:
Completing prewriting tasks, like outlining a book or developing character arcs
Finishing a draft of a manuscript
Revising a certain number of chapters
Make sure that your goal is measurable and realistic for the timeframe of your staycation. For instance, you might be able to draft six chapters over a long weekend, but you shouldn’t expect to write an entire book in the same timeframe. Unachievable goals like this will leave you exhausted and demoralized.
You might also consider setting aside a little time each day of your retreat to brush up on the craft of writing or to closely read a book by an author whose style you’d like to emulate.* I do this whenever I have a staycation of my own, as evinced by this two-part series on lessons from Margaret Atwood (here and here).
* Right now, my newsletter subscribers are on week one of a four-part series on mimicking other authors’ voices to find your own. Want to join them? Subscribe here.
You also need to consider where you’ll have your writing staycation. Per the very word and the fact that it costs you exactly zero extra dollars, the most obvious answer might be “at home,” but sometimes home can come with distractions from your writing life (i.e., the precise reason you need a staycation).
That’s not to say you have to write off home as a venue option entirely. Instead, be respectful of your family, roommates, and other folks who might live with you. Inform them ahead of time about the purpose of this writing retreat. What times of day will you be writing? Where in the house will you be writing? Will you need absolute peace and quiet? Is absolute peace and quiet possible in your living space or is it rude to presume you’ll get it based on an open floor plan? If the latter, invest in a good pair of headphones and some music or noise to help you focus. There are a ton of focus music playlists out there. (I enjoy pink noise or beta wave YouTube videos that are hours long so I don’t have to get used to a new background noise each time the track changes.)
Having such conversations and making such concessions can go a long way to avoid frustration or misunderstandings.
If home truly isn’t an option for you, consider reaching out to a friend who might be amenable to a house swap. (Shoutout to my friend and beta reader, Hurley Winkler, who has generously allowed me to write while housesitting for her twice now. Her home office’s orange walls are amazing for creative inspiration. Her own tips on focusing while writing can be found in the caption of this Instagram post below.)
Speaking of friends, will this writing retreat be a solo mission, or will you have other writers join you? If the latter, as with your housemates, you might want to impose some ground rules, such as setting a max cap on the number of attendees. You might also, for instance, make morning writing a quiet time and then have lunch and the afternoon be more flexible and social.
If house swapping is a no-go, set a budget and see if you can’t book an AirBnB either in your city or in a town nearby. A side benefit of staying in an AirBnB is that the staging is usually “on point,” as the kids say, so you can schedule a morning or an afternoon to take author photos; pictures of your writing tools and your published books; if any, as well as establishing shots and flat lays to use on your author pages on social media.
Goodbye forever, weird stock photos that we all pretend we took! (You know you do it too.) Source: Pixabay.
Related Posts:
“How to Afford Writing Conferences on an Unpredictable Budget.” Hatch Books Blog.
“Play It SMART: Treating Your Writing Goals Like Science Experiments.” Hatch Books Blog.
Gathering Supplies & Choosing Your Writing Area
Once you’ve picked the time and location and set goals for your writing retreat, it’s time to get down to business. As you crack your knuckles and open your manuscript, you’ll want to make sure you have all the necessities for a good writing time:
The important parts of a writing staycation: hydration, snackage, a good soundtrack, and, oh yeah, actual writing. Illustration: Jessica Hatch, 2020.
For your own benefit, though, make sure the snacks are nutritious. I talk about nutritional considerations for creative writing here. Make sure you’re getting some healthy fats (e.g., nuts) and eating good protein and fiber sources (e.g., carrots and hummus) to keep you fueled and your blood sugar steady.
You’ve got the snacks, a water bottle, and your favorite movie soundtrack playlist cued up on Spotify. The finishing touch? Making sure that you dedicate one area of your physical space specifically to your writing. You should aim to do nothing else in this space. Keep it sacred.
If the overall venue of your writing staycation is small, like a studio apartment, and requires each space to be multipurpose, then try to keep your writing area separate from any activity you may have to do that you find unpleasant, like checking work email, or distracting, like watching Netflix. That way, you won’t associate your writing space, which should be a safe, happy, sidetracking space, with those more negative emotions.
Ready, Set, Write!
Look at you go!
Remember, though, to take as many breaks as you need. There have been times on homemade writing retreats where I think I can go for six hours straight, and I do, but then I resurface into the physical world like Robin Williams’s character in Jumanji and house an entire baguette with Trader Joe’s vegan pesto.
My point is, as much as you’re exercising your creative and intelligent being, be kind to the rest of yourself. A writing staycation is meant to be restorative, a recharge of your proverbial batteries, so take time for exercise, a light walk if possible, and eat healthy foods.
If you follow these tips and suggestions, you should be ready for your very own homemade writing retreat! Have a blast and send me a postcard!**
**Seriously! Feel free to tag me in your #WritingStaycation selfies on Instagram or Twitter. My handle on both is @JessicaNHatch.
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