A Writer's Retreat

 I'm writing this the day before I post it, from a cabin in a clearing in the countryside.   Rain is pattering on the roof -- a sound that I love, but that I don't often experience, living on the 5th floor of a 21-story apartment building.  The leaves are off the trees, but yesterday I went hiking in the woods with a group of other writers, playing word games as we went.  We passed a lovely stream towards the end, and paused to listen to the sounds it made.

Do you remember Highlights for Children?   Maybe you read it as a child, or maybe your children read it.  The Highlights Foundation has a wonderful retreat center, where they run various programs for authors and illustrators of children's books.  But they also run Unretreats, where writers of any genre can rent a cabin or a room in the main lodge, with private and communal writing spaces, and three meals a day.  Right now, because of the pandemic, their workshops are online, and the Unretreats are carefully planned for maximum safety.  We're all staying and writing in separate accomodations, wearing masks (even when hiking!), and eating either out of doors, or with clear plastic barriers making an X through each table of four.

I'm here with writers I know (Finola Austin, author of Bronte's Mistress, and Kris Waldherr, author of The Lost History of Dreams) and writers I don't, both published and as yet unpublished.  There are folks who write literary fiction, fantasy, adventure, memoir, and folks who write middle grades and YA.  The conversation's been great, though limited by current circumstances -- it's not as easy to circulate and meet new people these days.  

But maybe the most wonderful thing about a writer's retreat, besides the shared purpose, is the focus. Have I searched the Internet, texted my husband, phoned my mother? Sure. But mostly, I've written, and planned, and untangled a project that had felt stuck for ages. With minimal distractions (no tv in the cabins!) and no responsibilities except to write, this Unretreat at the Highlights Foundation is the best thing I've done for myself as a writer in a very long time.

I'm already looking forward to the next one.

This post originally appeared on the Prairie Rose Publications blog on 11/16/2020