Writerly Ways

[cornerofmadness]

You'd think i should be clear with my writing seeing as I do so much of it but nope. I didn't mean to imply the realtor was bad. I meant to illustrate she was overly enthusiastic. yikes. way to fail.

So let's talk writers' retreats? Anyone know of a good one? Because I spent half this weekend trying to find one, having decided yes that would be a good vacation for me and my mending leg. Well more than half are poorly disguised yoga retreats. For one, I reject the idea that yoga/meditation/vegetarianism is the only way to improve creativity. I do meditate and I did yoga but I am not up for that. Many of these literally offered nothing in the way of workshopping/mentoring. It's all dawn yoga and three organic veggie meals a day. Um... okay that's not the only path to writing? Not to mention it's ableist AF. Where are the Hemmingway retreats where you write drunk and edit sober?

Others were very thin on details. They were just pretty places to write. Okay that's nice but what am I paying for? I could just get a cabin in the woods on my own and not have to share a bathroom. Also if you ARE having mentoring/workshopping, shouldn't you put in your qualifications? Are you writers? editors? agents? marketers? I don't hire a plumber without looking up his creds why would I hire you to edit me without the same level of vetting?

I did find one in Bar Harbor Maine that would fit but naturally it was full. Sigh. I put myself on the wait list. There was another Maine at a light house, segregated, men one retreat women the other which for women was naturally in Sept when I can't travel.

this one didn't seem to be too bad but a little light on details. Same deal with this one but do I really want to go to Montana? This one in Ireland sounds promising.I'm not up for international travel but I might look at this for the future.



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Comments

[goddess47]

I'll have to find some details for you but a writer friend of mine went to a workshop, maybe only a long weekend, but it was a police procedural based session. There were real cops and detectives and lab techs talking about what they do and how it's really done. There were some small group work where the writers got to (safely) handle weapons, to get a feel for what a gun weighs and physically feels.

She was really impressed. That was, of course, pre-Covid, but I thought I heard that they did an online version the last time it was run, which wasn't as much fun.

I'm thinking it was Eastern US, I know my friend wouldn't have gone to the West Coast, but that's pretty generic...

Let me see what I can find for you.

[cornerofmadness]

Thanks. I have heard about that sort of retreat. I do know someone who had done one. I'd be interested in the police procedural, less about the fire arms (I've been shooting since I was young, I'm pretty good there)

[goddess47]

Here's what my friend gave me:

It's called Writer's Police Academy (https://writerspoliceacademy.com/), and it is aimed at mystery/crime writers. I enjoyed participating in it live, but was disappointed with their online presentation last year (lots of technical glitches). Most of it is very technical, some of it pretty gruesome, and not really geared toward writing feedback per say. Lots of opportunity to talk to real life law enforcement and crime techs to ask your tech questions though.

I have gotten a lot out of Inkers Con (https://www.inkerscon.com/), which allows you access to the con material for 2-3 years after the event. I'm still doing everything online as opposed to in-person, Inkers seems to offer both. There's a lot of stuff on marketing as well as craft. I think for your money, it's one of the better deals. Inkers also holds mini-cons and free seminars. On a smaller scale, the Author Transformation Alliance (https://www.thewriteservices.com/jointheata) holds a writing retreat every year (or did until the pandemic). I think it's online this year too. There are lots of writing exercises, but perhaps not as much feedback and guidance. For a monthly membership fee, however, you can access all kinds of material on a wide variety of subjects and get some of the kind of guidance your friend might be looking for.

****

She's now writing cozy mysteries under M.K. Dean, if you want to check her out.

If nothing else, you have at least one positive recommendation for these options...

Hope that helps!

[cornerofmadness]

thanks so much. I'll look into all of this. Mind if I share it next writerly ways?

[goddess47]

Sure, go ahead and share it! Always good to share what one has learned!

Hope you find it helpful yourself!

[cornerofmadness]

Cool, thanks. yeah that's why I do the writerly ways in general

[jenett]

I am with you on "why are all the writing retreats yoga?"

(My ideal is a place where I have somewhere quiet, something nice to look at, and someone else doing all the cooking, with a reasonable range of food options that include enough protein I can eat to keep my brain running. I don't care as much about the mentoring/classes, partly because I've never seen a retreat where I've been confident it would be a decent fit on approach/goals/etc.)

[cornerofmadness]

Right? Not everyone unwinds the same way and right now with my knee injury yoga is out, maybe for the rest of my life which is a bummer but that's reality.

The first one I linked here is just that, a nice place to write. I have the same concerns. Judging by what I've seen of your books, you and I have some overlap in genres. A crap ton of these tend toward contemporary lit or memoir writing which that would be a bad fit. So basically just give me someplace with restaurants?

Or do what I have wanted to do, rent a cabin in the woods with my SFF writing friends and call it our own retreat

[jenett]

Yeah, the genre thing too. (And mostly, while there are things I get a ton out of talking about with other writers, they often aren't things that fit in a writing-focused retreat.)

I do sometimes eye some of the more flexible religious retreat centers which often do have "here is a cabin in the woods, come up to the main building for meals, otherwise we'll ignore you, here's some walking paths if you want some" options. One of these days!

(My trick is that I do actually need at least some internet access for writing time: I can manage without streaming video/music just fine, but I need text access to spot research as I go.)

[cornerofmadness]

same here, talking to other authors.

There WAS one in California that was just like that, a Buddhist retreat. I am trying to recall the name. I had the thought that with my issues sleeping in some yurt with no plumbing and having to run to the main house was no longer a fit for me.

I hear you about the research needs

[havocthecat]

I would love an online writing retreat! If you ever hear of one...

[cornerofmadness]

I'll let you know if i hear of one