I went on a DIY writers retreat and loved it so much I'm sharing all the deliciousness with you here

A recipe to create your own retreat and spark that inner creative in you + this is NOT clickbait for you to sign up for anything! I share everything I did and you can copy/paste what works for you

The premise is simple. Find a writer-friend, block off a few days of your life, pick a rad creative-inducing home, pinky promise to not talk to your writer-friend for large chunks of time, and plan to write your ass off.

Writers who vanish somewhere remote or hole themselves up to make their magic is nothing new. Maya Angelou used to leave home and rent a hotel room to write books. Sylvia Plath and her poet husband Ted Hughes wrote several works in a tiny Catalan fishing village. George Bernard Shaw wrote his plays in a tiny wooden hut that rotated like a lazy susan so its windows always followed the sunshine.

When my friend

Heather Casper

brought up the idea of a writers retreat, I immediately said yes without question because I’m a slut for a good getaway and any chance to give myself the time and space to write without distraction.

We left on a Wednesday afternoon for our road trip to Joshua Tree, we savored 2 full days of writing, and arrived home on Saturday, inspired and fulfilled. We came to write and we def got it done. Collectively, we blanketed our journals with Morning Pages, scribbled lots of stream of consciousness writing, reevaluated our writing and publishing practice, wrote letters to our loved ones, finished an essay, started two essays, and pieced together an entire book’s outline.

For all the high achievers reading this, yes, we wrote the stuff we wanted to write. On paper, the retreat was a hit, A+++. Even if I didn’t get the writing I wanted done, it was a success because I strengthened a friendship with a fellow writer. We make writing dates a thing now. And by ducking away for 3 days, we embodied creative thinking, feeling, and doing.

So here I am, jotting down what we did. If you feel compelled, copy and paste what speaks to you. Go ahead and create your own retreat.

Before we begin, let me clarify:

You don’t have to be a writer to do a DIY retreat.

This is for anyone who has a creative spark in them. Do you seek the opportunity to get cranking on your craft, or complete a painting you’ve been agonizing over, or finish that knitting project that’s been sitting there in your craft corner and bitching at you? You could be a hobbyist, a skilled artist, or beginning an art form.

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First:

Shut the f*ck up.

Months before our retreat I told Heather, “I am so excited to hang out with you and not talk to you.”

Totally a joke but I was dead serious, too. If you decide to go on a retreat with a friend, be sincere about your commitment to why you’re there. Write first (or create whatever art form you came to do), then everything else is second. That said, double down on your commitment to writing by planning your social hours, which leads me to my next point.

Create a rough schedule that you genuinely want to follow but you’re also ok to break.

Call me a freak or a genius. Or both. I made a schedule on a google sheet because I knew we needed some sort of structure to our days and help us wrap our brains around writing time and ward off any any fears about chatting too much or screwing around. Heather is a night owl and I’m a morning person so I created a schedule to accommodate our peak thinking and writing times. We didn’t follow the schedule exactly¹ but it was a good enough guide for us.

Arrive with a goal and make room for your intentions.

How many book chapters do you want to write? Do you want to complete the essay you’ve been sitting on? How far along do you want to get into your painting project? Creatives are known for having trouble with making goals (hi, that’s me!). But you can do it.

On night one, after dinner, we found the perfect spot to create an altar to honor two things; our retreat space and ourselves for getting our butts there because, let’s face it, finding time away from work and family is hard. We brought items from home (special gems and stones, incense, oracle cards) and sat in the center of the house. We hung out, we chatted, and we set our intentions. Yours doesn’t have to be so formal or woo-woo. Maybe light a candle. Or sit in brief silence and think about how you did the damn thing by showing up.

Find a sweet spot.

We chose AZ West, the former home of artist Andrea Zittel. We couldn’t have found a better pad for us to envelop ourselves in creativity. I mean, did you look at her place?! The entire house is art (most items were made or designed by Andrea), from the kitchen tiles, to the light fixtures, the furniture, the ceramic bowls, the watercolor paintings, and shelving made of old packaging boxes. Art be everywhere and it filled us creatively.

It doesn’t mean you have to find an artist’s home. In fact, some folks prefer it plain, far from any distraction. You can do it on a budget. It can be any spot away from home. Do you have a friend who needs house sitting? House swap? Think about the space you want to create in. What environment charges you? Do you need a lot of outside time in beautiful nature? Do you need to be in a secluded place with a solid desk and chair?

(Try) to ditch your phone.

I don’t need to tell you why your phone sucks when you need to focus. We made a little corner to promote doing something, anything else, besides look at our phones. We both added ideas to our list, called “sh*t to do to avoid phone.” Also, I shut off email and iMessages on my MacBook. During this trip, Heather promised she wouldn’t open IG, and didn’t. Before we left Joshua Tree she deleted it off her phone and she hasn’t been back on it since (it’s been a month!).

Show gratefulness.

I brought stamps and pretty stationary for us to write letters to our loved ones, thanking them for supporting us as writers, as creatives, and encouraging us to live our dreams of being antisocial and weird and introverted. It’s fun to send snail mail and postcards from our travels and it’s a good bridge between your retreat and home.

Stick to a morning routine.

Whatever it is you do in the morning to get you invigorated, do it at your retreat. In a new space, I find it nice to bring some semblance of routine from home and bring it with you. It’s a grounding practice in a foreign place. Mine was a 6am wake-up, brush teeth, walk outside, yoga, and then coffeeeee.

Then, I was ready to write.

Bring pre-made meals and your fave libations.

Cooking and preparing meals is a creative act in itself. Plus, it can be exhausting and time consuming. Since we were driving distance, we each brought a dish to share and it delivered beloved leftovers throughout our stay. These meals were time and energy savers and gave us more room to write. Or Doordash it. Whatever. Make it easy and nourishing.

And when was the last time you’ve been to a rental and enjoyed your coffee there as much as home? Almost never! Who has time for crappy coffee? None of us do so bring your own setup. Each morning we brewed coffee in our trusty Chemex with our fave beans from Joshua Tree Coffee Company. Muah. So good.²

Plan at least one creative activity outside of your preferred medium.

“In order to write about life first you must live it.”

Oh Ernie (Hemingway). You so right. It’s unrealistic to expect to write all the time. Come to your retreat with creative activities. Make them fun, short, easy. If you’re a writer, come with ideas outside of writing. If you’re a painter, think of something that doesn’t involve your paintbrush.

On our last day, Heather and I ran around like maniacs photographing ourselves with our trusty tiny tripod, her iPhone, and a few props and outfits we brought from home. It was pure fun with lots of giggles and even more bad photos. Here’s a fun one of me in the bathtub:

Be OK with any outcome.

On the second half of day two, I ended up feeling a little under the weather and I slept the rest of the afternoon. I chalked it up as a good old fashioned nap on vacation.

It’s possible you don’t get diddly squat written during your entire trip. What if you look at it as giving your brain some space to think and to ideate? This retreat can serve as a time for you to simply live a little and allow yourself room to breathe. That’s a win in my book.

Where would you like to go on a DIY creatives retreat? Who would you like to invite to go with you, or will you go solo? If you’ve been on a retreat, what did you love about yours?

1. TBH. We probably get a C for following it but it was a good compass for us as we went into our trip.

2. I’ve taken my own coffee setup on flights away from home. Worth making space in my carry-on luggage.