Find out why writers need to take a retreat to become great authors.
“In order to understand the world, one has to turn away from it on occasion.” The Minotaur
― Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays
It’s almost Spring, and we’re welcoming new things, new growth, and new hope. Nature is returning and blossoming. And writer’s retreats are budding around the world to give writers multiple choices to help them take leaps in their writing talents. Just as Albert Camus says, writers need to remove themselves from the familiar and find their true writing destiny and understand how to achieve it.
Here are five reasons to attend writer retreats.
| 1. |
Feed your creativity: Getting away from all the typical daily distractions of everyday life. A retreat will show you loud and clear that your creative genius is always there. It will remind you that the distractions of everyday life and the undertow of social media that silence the potential inside the writer. |
| 2. |
Boost your productivity: Daily life can keep the writer from writing that great American novel. A retreat can be the catalyst to kickstart the book that’s calling to them to write. |
| 3. | Develop good habits: Many fitness trainers report that to build a routine takes 21 days. To lose fitness takes two weeks of inactivity. The same thing happens with writing. What happens when you write every day in the company of others? You magically create a routine that you need to protect and cherish when you return to your regular everyday roles and routines. The mere experience of being on a retreat and writing every day stays with you as a memory of what you are capable of.
A writing retreat is what Bootcamp is to the fitness freak. You train your writing muscle until it wants to continue to do its thing, no matter the weather. |
| 4. | Become inspired: The word inspiration derives from the Latin ‘inspirare’ which means “to breath in, to draw breath.” At a writing retreat, you live and breathe writing. You sketch characters; you paint word pictures, you compose captivating scenes, you explore and play with new writing styles. |
| 5. | Build a community: Unlike a writers’ conference, where you network to increase your public profile while attending a writing retreat you will get inspiration from your peer group. You make friends, you share your fears and you challenge each other to step out of your comfort zone. |
Are you ready for some retreat ideas?
England:
Moniack Mhor Creative Writing Centre is in the beautiful Scottish Highlands, just fourteen miles from the city of Inverness. Since our first course 
in 1993, Moniack Mhor has been running creative writing courses tutored by some of the finest authors in the UK and beyond.
Devon writing retreats: All writers are welcome here: award-winners, absolute beginner, fiction, non-fiction, poets, academics, students, entrepreneurs; anyone who needs time and space to think. It’s a true retreat to focus on your own work, so there are no workshops, just acres of 
time to write. Oh, and everybody has their own room.
Ireland:
Ireland Writers’ Retreats with Tours of Ireland: On this inspirational pilgrimage to the land of myth, mystery, and magic, you can embrace 
opportunities to enrich your writing, meet like-minded individuals, and realize your creative dreams.
Hawaii:
Camp Mokuleia: This annual retreat on the North Shore of Oahu brings three-dozen writers to Camp Mokulē‘ia for a week of intimate workshops and one-on-one coaching. The retreat is open to writers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, essays, and memoir. We foster exchange in two directions
—between islanders and mainlanders, published writers and budding writers, Native Hawaiian artistry and mainland publishing. Special evening programs offer a chance to learn about the essence of Hawaii from writers, chanters, musicians, and other cultural legends.
Canada
Victoria summer writing retreat: This retreat will encompass both fiction and non-fiction writers and include 4 classes and a reading which will primarily review basic story structure and wordplay, as well as other aspects of writing basics. As with our other retreats, we aim to build a solid 
support group of writers regardless of their writing level. You also get customized one-on-one writing coaching included.
Get ready for your life as a great author.
Hi, Judy,
Thanks so much for mentioning the Mokulē‘ia Writers Retreat. We are changing things up a little this year, going seven days instead of five and allowing for an even greater retreat from the world and into the writing and the community of writers. We’re also changing the name slightly and changing the relationship to Camp Mokulē‘ia, so if you wouldn’t mind changing the link, this one would be best right now: http://sinandsyntax.com/oahu-writers-retreat/