A few years ago I decided I wanted to write a book. Of course, I was already running a full time business and my husband still wanted to see me once in a while, so the challenge was figuring out how I’d make time to write and have the discipline to get it done while balancing my other obligations. 

First I set a goal to write for thirty minutes every morning. I tried it, and failed completely. I not only discovered that it takes me 30 minutes just to settle in to writer’s mode in the first place, but also, on a day-to-day basis, I have too many other urgent deadlines related to my design company. Every time I’d sit down to write there would be an email from a client or one of my staff needing an answer. I thought about getting up even earlier, before work-hours, but honestly I love my snooze-button and cherish those extra minutes of sleep too much, so getting up extra early to squeeze in 30 minutes of writing wasn’t going to happen. 

Discovering that I needed more than 30 dedicated minutes at a time, I set a new goal to turn off my phone and write for four hours every Thursday afternoon. What I then discovered was that even when I set aside a half or whole day to write, if I worked either at home or in my office I was gripped by shiny-object-syndrome and would discover the sudden need to clean my office, look at Facebook, organize the spices alphabetically, fold the sheets, and trim the cat’s nails.

I realized that to write, I had to get away. I needed a writing retreat.
​It turns out that there are writing retreats all over the world, but they were not what I actually needed. While it would be lovely to spend a week writing in Hawaii or the Himalayas (and trust me, I’m tempted) I didn’t personally need the coaching and accountability that comes with this kind of retreat. (Note, if you *do* need coaching and accountability, this option may be incredibly well-spent money!) In my case, I just needed some time in a place that didn’t give me access to my other projects, people, and pets. I needed a personal ​writing retreat. 

When I realized that I needed to take a personal writing retreat the next problem I faced was -where I would go? As an interior designer and someone highly sensitive to her surroundings, I couldn’t just escape to a hotel. Cheap ones are scary, nice ones are expensive, and all hotels are beige.

I CAN’T WRITE IN BEIGE. 

Luckily, we live in the era of AirBNB, VRBO, and a sharing society. I knew it would takea bit money on my part, but I counted it as a business expense and an investment in my long term plan of making money as a speaker and writer. So I set nightly budgets and stayed in lovely local places like this bohemian hideaway, this waterside gem, and this treehouse! Each place was just a two hour drive away, but it felt like I was on another planet.

By getting away I was able to write my entire book, all 75,000 words, in eight days! Not all at once, of course. I took two-night escapes four times over the period of a year because I did have a life to live and a company to run. But by spending money on a getaway (I hate wasting money) and removing myself from my distractions (I turned off my wifi and phone while away) I got it done!

Happy may startat home, but in my case, I needed to write in a home-away-from-home.  And the best part? Not only did I end up with a published book, I also created opportunities to unplug, be quiet, and get away from it all. Maybe you are the kind of person who can carve out 30 minutes a day, or devote Thursday afternoons to your novel but if, like me, you need time and space that is away from your real life, I can’t recommend a personal writing retreat highly enough. It’s amazingly restorative, and wonderfully beneficial, whether or not you complete your novel.

​Is it time for you to run away from home?