How to Get the Most Out of a One-Day Writing Escape

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)

If I could hide away from the world and write all weekend every weekend, I probably would (more often than not. Beach weekends need to happen, too). That's not how most writers' lives work, alas. We write when we can. But every now and then you get a day that's a gift--or even just half a day--where you can set your imagination free. How do you seize that day?

1) Unplug. If you're reading this blog, you're probably already all about the analog life, but take that up a notch. Put a focus app on your phone and make good use of it. Or give your devices to a friend for the day. Part ways with the things that might distract you. Bonus: You can bring your favorite pens and notebooks and spend some quality time with them.

2) Take care of your body. Dress comfortably so you can settle in. Have water and a snack nearby. Don't give yourself reasons to get up once you've hunkered down to write. If you know you'll get restless, take a long walk before you sit down. It will get your endorphins going, work out your fidgets, and you'll be grateful to sit down and focus.

3) Pick a good setting. I like to be close to nature when I write and I like to be able to rest my eyes on a nice view when I'm between thoughts. You might prefer a city skyline, or a bustling cafe. Organized writers' retreats are a wonderful place to escape for the purpose of writing. But be careful to ...

4) Set social boundaries. When you are around other writers, it's natural to want to talk about writing. And that's good! Take a break from the isolation of the write life. But make sure you have work time set aside and stick to it.

5) Underpack. It's tempting to want to bring lots of projects, or all of them--everything you want to work on. But if you only have one day, just bring one project. Only one. Set an achievable goal for yourself. Focus on that one goal. You'll be more likely to hit the finish line if your efforts aren't divided between your goals.

Having a day to write is such a rare, precious thing. So savor it and make the most of the time. I was lucky enough to get such a day this week. It was wonderful, even though I did break a few of my own rules. I socialized a bit more than I'd intended, but we've all been a little too isolated this past year, so I forgive myself. And I brought two projects: The haunted house story I need to write on a deadline, and this blog post. I'll let you figure out which one I actually got done.

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Writing Retreat/Retreating Writing

Long weekends are good for writing. Thing is, they're also good for not writing. This past weekend I ventured off to my usual retreat spot--a small inn on the shores of Lake Michigan, where it's usually just me and the water and the words for days.

What I brought with me:

— A lofty list of goals.

— A Nock Sinclair loaded with good pens.

— My laptop, because one of the things on my list was to finish a rewrite and revision of a new short story I needed to turn in.

— A printed draft of the current novel I'm editing/synopsizing.

— Two notebooks that each contain the beginning of the same novel that I accidentally wrote twice, years apart, so that I could combine them into one preferred draft.

— My stack of planning notebooks for several writing projects (the short story planning notebook, the novel planning notebook for the novel I am synopsizing, the novel planning notebook for the new novel I am drafting, and the random ideas notebook in case I had any random ideas.)

— Far too many snacks.

— Far too little discipline.

I also brought a writing friend this time, a dear person with whom I normally would have been attending a writing convention that same weekend. This was our substitute for that lost convention. It was also the first time we'd seen each other in nearly two years, and perhaps we didn't take that enough into account when making our lofty goals.

I did finish the short story and turned it in on time. I also managed to fix my diverging novel drafts. I did not make it far on my synopsis--the main thing that I had hoped to finish. I only completed three of the twenty chapters.

What I did instead:

I visited with my friend. We had many snacks, and took walks, and chatted. We watched the waves on the lake and boats passing by. We watched a beautiful red moon rise, listened to audiobooks and podcasts. We came across a trove of fossils and climbed over boulders to meticulously document our discoveries. We inconvenienced seagulls. We had the best ice cream ever. We spent five hours strolling a beach, picnicking, sifting through rocks, finding more fossils, dozing in the sunshine. We exhausted ourselves with fresh air and fell asleep early with our work undone.

Sometimes I need to remember, when I look at my lofty lists of goals, that I can't just write. I need to write about something. And if you're going to write about life, you also have to live it--soak up the experiences you can draw from later. If you only write about the world as you see it from your office window, it will be a filtered view, textureless, scentless, incomplete.

I didn't get done what I needed to get done, but I did what I needed to do, and while today's drafts are half empty, tomorrow's are half full. There are lots of ways to work on your writing, and sometimes that work involves ice cream, spectacular rocks, and neglected stationery.

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Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

Under Wraps

While my wrist is under wraps for the next few weeks I'm going to explore a few new ideas during what is normally my Monday review time slot.

Today, we make a mess.

Over the past week I've missed using my stationery immensely. I didn't touch a pen until Friday, and only then to see how bad my lefty handwriting was. It was passable, and could certainly do in a pinch. But my new, shorter, cast freed up my fingers enough to grip way back on any pen or pencil, which was even better.

But I'm still not comfortable working on a proper product review for my normal Monday time slot. It feels too weird to do it differently than I have done for almost 13 years. So this Monday, and the next several Mondays, I'm going to talk about whatever pops into my head. Luckily, that usually involves stationery in some shape or fashion.

Going almost a week without pens had me wanting to swim in the stuff this weekend. Sunday afternoon provided a great opportunity, with windows-open weather, and the Masters in the background. I went around the house and gathered up all the things I've been wanting to use and piled them up on my dinner table. Yes, I thought. Back to normal.

I went through my inked fountain pens to make sure they haven't dried out from inactivity (one had, but it was more due to the fact it had almost been written dry,) and cracked open some new uni-ball products sent to me by their new US offshoot.

I grabbed my bills (I got a bit behind), and my books, and made sure to grab my creative journal to play around with. There was a bag of pencils, a sharpener, a bunch of washi tape, and a notebook, or two.

And I just played around. How were the new uni-ball Vision 0.38 mm pens? Surprisingly good. Can I use scissors with my right hand? Yes, quite well in fact. Is a wooden pencil the best writing instrument for me right now? It sure seems that way.

Softer and darker cores are better for me right now, I've discovered. My grip pressure is lighter, and further away from the page, so a pencil like the Blackwing MMX works well, when normally it isn't a consideration.

I used that pencil to copy one of my early favorite poems from my first Billy Collins book. Well, to start copying, because I could feel my arm pressure begin to tighten up inside my normally loose cast. Too much stress for today. Oh well. My wife probably won't appreciate the cast marks on the edge of the table either. Nobody tell her, ok?

I'm writing this post in the Ulysses app on my phone, where I have also taken and edited these average photos. I've been typing with my left hand on my phone a lot. It's more comfortable than my laptop sometimes, and Myke shared with me the amazing swipe to type feature, which I didn't know was built in to the iOS keyboard already. Oops.

I still need, and love, all of the digital hardware and software that allows me to do my job, but dang if this mess on this table on a random November afternoon didn't put a smile on my face.

Time to go play some more.