In November, I wrote the sixth iteration of Rini & Butler. In the last stretch of the month, the last three days, I wrote 20,000 words and finished it just on time (ᴗ͈`ヮ´ᴗ͈)

Planning for the writing retreat was exhilarating. I was going through a period where nothing was really enjoyable. I wasn’t sure what to write or to do with my time. And then I watched a Preptober video from Heart Breathings (Sarra Cannon) and it really buzzed from there. Planning for Preptober and Writvember were both exciting and got the motivation pumping and then the writing retreat was really just the proverbial icing on the cake. Unfortunately I didn’t take any photos of my set up but it was cosy. Next time I will properly document it!

My favourite takeaway from these videos were the scene planner (I’ll do another post just on how this helped me) and the idea that you can just plan a little retreat in your home and make it work, that it doesn’t need to be anything fancy.

So, I created a “writing retreat” guide, told my partner that I was planning on monopolising the lounge room space for the weekend and set an ambitious but achievable writing goal. I set out a schedule and rewards and activities to keep it flowing. Having done Preptober really helped with the direction for the Writvember Writing Retreat.

Solid Structure but Flexibility

I love stucture but can start feeling restrained when it doesn’t work out well. This is why I’ve been working hard to do “practice plans”, so that instead of crumbling when it doesn’t work how it should, I can say confidently to myself “okay, good run, now let’s reflect and improve on it so it’s better next time”.

I like to use blocks to set up my structures. It looks neat and appealing to me and so I scratch that itch. What I’ve also found is that designating a block as “writing” rather than with a specific set of tasks helps my brain not feel locked in. As long as I’m still doing something writing adjacent, it’s okay for me to switch it up and there’s more freedom in the mind.

Visible Progress Targets

I am one of those people that needs to see my progress to believe that I’m making it. Digital tracking doesn’t quite work the same. I’ve tried to cut as much paper use out as possible but sometimes I do need a physical copy of something for it to really be there. Each time I highlighted a completed block or goal, I got a little kick of “I’ve achieved something!” and it helps keep the motivation pumping.

Realistic Goals

It’s really important to nurture your ambition but also not let it sabotage you. I’ve set myself up for failure many times by overwhelming myself with ambitious goals and rather than recognising that I should have set the bar lower, I would think it’s because I’m not good enough. Recently, the best way I’ve found is to set goals that are ramping: they start from just below what I know I’m capable of and then slowly ramp up from there.

I set my goals for the writing reatreat based on the workload and how much I can write based on past bulk writing periods. The most I’ve ever written in one day in 26,000 words and I’ve often done 10,000 word days when in the mood, so doing a guided (since there’s already a draft) writing session across three days didn’t seem that hard. If I was writing the draft from scratch, it would likely be too ambitious but I was certain that I could do it.

The Heart Breathings YouTube channel is great. Sarra has a very comforting and motivating presence in her videos and there’s just this air of “this is a real person” (I think it’s called relatability). There aren’t all the fancy bells and whistles and deep romanticisation’s of being an author that can sometimes make it intimidating and feel unreachable. Sometimes you really need to wander around and see what your fellow authors are doing whilst your own creativity looks for a spark.