Writing Retreat by Annette Dashofy

Last weekend, I joined six of my local Sisters in Crime for our annual retreat. For four years now, we’ve rented the same house, which is literally out in the middle of nowhere, for a couple of days of writing, brainstorming, and workshopping our current projects. 

Our Retreat House

We arrived on Friday afternoon, loaded with enough food to feed a small army. The first hours were spent unloading the food and our gear, drawing cards to determine which room was ours, and lots of gabbing and catching up with each other. 

My bedroom for the weekend

In the weeks leading up to the retreat, we’d created a meal plan with a spreadsheet of who brought what. I always pick Friday’s dinner as my contribution. I brought Naan bread with marinara sauce and shredded mozzarella for individual pizzas. There were also a couple of cauliflower-crust pizzas to accommodate those who are gluten-intolerant.

Once the kitchen was cleaned up, we gathered with our laptops in the comfy living room for a read-and-critique session. For this, we’d submitted twenty pages several weeks in advance to give us time to read and make comments, which we shared and discussed in person. It was also a wonderful way to find out what everyone was working on, and in the case of a couple of new members, to learn how we could help improve their craft as needed. 

For Saturday, another attendee provided quiche and frittatas for breakfast. Then, after a few hours of retreating to our solitary spaces to write, I offered the first half of a workshop on characters. In past years, various attendees have shared presentations. And one year, we opted to have a JUST WRITING retreat. I stressed that the workshops were optional. If anyone preferred to pass and simply keep writing, my feelings weren’t hurt at all. 

A third attendee took charge of a lunch of soup and sandwiches. The afternoon was more writing, the second half of the workshop, and even more writing. A fourth attendee prepared a pasta dinner for us. 

There was a lot of pairing off to discuss plot, character, dialogue problems, etc. It’s so gratifying to see someone, who discovered a major problem in their story during the critique, appear smiling and excited later in the weekend because they had figured out the solution! 

Sunday, our own Martha Reed played short-order breakfast cook, whipping up a variety of egg dishes or steel-cut oats. 

(The other attendees, who didn’t cook, brought snacks and wine and beverages and more snacks. We had enough food to stay the whole week!)

 By the way, if you’re wondering why my pictures don’t include our retreaters, it’s because none of us were photo-ready. Our dress code was pajamas or yoga pants and NO MAKEUP. 

I hope everyone headed home late Sunday morning as inspired as I was. 

Fellow writers and readers, have you ever attended a retreat, writing or otherwise? If so, tell us about it!