Most of the writers I know personally don’t have the budget to travel to writing retreats around the country or the world. I Googled the topic ‘writing retreats’ and found them located in many states as well as other countries. Since I live in the United States I look for any close to my part of the country (Texas) and pour over the websites for those that look wonderful. Since I needed a break from my regular schedule and wanted to go to a writers retreat, I decided to look for alternatives.

Some businesses and organizations give personal days or mental health days to their employees. Since I’m an author and my other job is consulting. My husband and I own a business consulting firm with a partner. Since I’m a boss so to speak, I gave myself a writers retreat day – okay I did it on a Saturday – but it was like a retreat. A friend and member of a critique group spent all day last Saturday away from home, locally at her office. We had the quiet and the focus we needed. We chatted but worked on computer program tools that can help us edit manuscripts. We covered four chapters in both of our works in progress. It was great! We took salads for lunch and then met our husbands for dinner at a local Chinese food restaurant. We felt refreshed and energized – like when you come back from a retreat or conference.

Try setting up your own retreat day. It’s worth it.