A quiet cabin hidden in
the Poconos
Luscious meals prepared
by a five star chef
No cell phones
Great writing coaches
An eclectic group of
talented and generous writers
These are the ingredients I remember from Room to Create, a
writers retreat in 2011 put on by the Highlights Foundation. This fall a reunion retreat was planned for
this group. Sandy Asher and Linda Oatman High were once again the facilitators.
Unfortunately, I was unable to attend this year.
Disappointed that I couldn't attend and realizing that my
writing life needed a jump-start, I decided I would give myself a personal
retreat. I took a day off work, and
committed it to writing. I did not leave
the house or clean the house. My house definitely needed cleaning and there were tons
of errands I needed to run, but I was giving myself the gift of a writing
day.
After breakfast, I sipped my coffee and sat down in front of
my computer. What should I work on? I opened one of my picture book manuscripts. I closed it.
I opened one of my non-fiction projects.
I closed it too. I decided to
spend the day organizing my writing life.
I reviewed each manuscript to determine its status. Some of my manuscripts are at publishing houses
waiting for feedback; some need massive revisions, while others are in their
final stages. Then there are the projects
that are little more than research notes and beginning ideas.
I am someone who always has many
writing projects in the hopper. I know
some writers start a writing project, dig in their teeth, and keep at the one
project until it’s done. That’s just not
me. I dig in, chew and gnaw at my
manuscript, but then I need to put it down, let it ferment while I work on
another project. In order to keep track of
my many projects, I use a mind mapping program called freeplane. So, on this personal retreat day, after I reviewed
each manuscript, I updated it on my mindmap.
Here’s the outline of my map for my children’s writing without the specific
projects.
I didn't get a ton of writing done during my personal
retreat, but I did reset my focus and determine where to put my writing
energy. Instead of feeling overwhelmed,
by what I need to get done, I felt empowered by what I had accomplished.
If you’re feeling like your writing life needs a reboot,
consider a personal retreat.
Mary Jo Guglielmo is writer and
intuitive life strategist. For more information check out:
http://facebook.com/DoNorth.biz
