I spent the last week at a writing retreat, which felt indulgent but has been very useful. Firstly, the place I went was fully-catered, which meant I was able to focus on my writing throughout.
I’d expected to produce lots of new pieces. Instead I deleted tens of thousands of words of old notes. There are ideas for stories that I’ve been carrying around for years without ever finishing – particularly ideas for longer projects. I’d sometimes work on these without getting anywhere, so they were a distraction. I also took the time to finally clear the stacked documents on my Desktop.
By the last day, my head felt clearer, and I was able to focus better. I’m hopeful that the retreat will produce a permanent change – working with how I write rather than how I wished I wrote.
Too often, I come up with concepts I’d like to work on, but never manage to fill in any actual sentences. I also tend to work best quickly – trying lots of things and seeing which produces a viable story. That’s difficult, as you’re always starting from nothing, but it always eventually works out.
By the last day of the retreat I felt as if I was taking advantage of my new clarity. I wrote a couple of blog posts in a single sitting, and they as good as the ones I’ve tinkered with for weeks (some of which would get discarded as they went stale).
Spending a week on a writing retreat has taken up a lot of time, but I think it’s been good for me. The question is whether writing will be less frustrating in future.