Before my friend Alison died, we talked about doing a writing retreat. It was to be small and would essentially give attendees designated time to focus on writing with minimal distraction. After her untimely passing, it occurred to me even more that I needed to make and create time to do the things that I am passionate about such as writing. Tomorrow is not promised and her death at not even 39 years old proved it to me in the most painful way.
At the beginning of 2021, I decided to do a writing retreat! I invited a few of my sister-cousins who I knew had writing endeavors. One of them also had a friend who was interested too! It was four of us and we were set! We determined that we would go on the retreat in early March and we booked a remote lake house for the experience. We had a schedule and all meals had been planned. Our jobs were on hold and our families knew to keep interruptions to a minimum. We were going to get some serious writing goals accomplished! And, we did! There was a variety in the types of writing, from blog posts to book proposals to academic writing.
By the conclusion of the weekend, we each had accomplished at least some of the things we set out to achieve. It was an exhilarating feeling! The retreat was a complete success and everyone left with renewed passion and relief to have started or completed some writing goals. There was no way this type of essential bonding over a laptop could be a one-hit wonder. It was going to have to happen again!
As I was beginning to prepare for the next writing retreat, I thought about how awesome that it would be to make the writing retreat an extension of my budding writing career. I knew that I needed to do it at least periodically as it proved pivotal in helping me accomplish some of my writing goals that my busy life otherwise didn’t allow. I also wanted to help other working women take time away to achieve their writing goals. From this thought, the Busy Bee Writing Retreat was born! A Busy Bee is a working woman who is juggling career/work, family, and community responsibilities who also finds fulfillment in other endeavors such as writing. The Busy Bee Writing Retreat is an opportunity for personal and professional growth, self-care, and a way to accomplish writing or project goals for working women who are not full-time writers. The goal of the Busy Bee Writing Retreat is to provide dedicated and uninterrupted time to achieve writing goals with a group of similarly minded women in a location that limits interruptions and distractions. Everything that a participant needs is on-site including meals. All the participant needs is a goal in mind and the willingness to commit to a weekend.
The next retreat will happen in September 2021 and I bet you can guess who will be attending. Yes, the same four from before but this time four more ladies are joining in the experience! I have been working to make the retreat worthwhile and memorable!
If you are a busy woman with writing goals you may be wondering how you can participate in the Busy Bee Writing Retreat. I will tell you now! The next retreat is already being planned and will happen February 25th-27th, 2022 at a beautiful private lake house in Cedar Bluff Alabama! Twenty ladies will be able to attend on a first come first serve basis.
As a Busy Bee, the benefits of a writing retreat go beyond the obvious getaway and delves into your writing project or passion but allows for more creativity, bonding, dedication, and efficiency. I can conquer the world with my writing with a little dedicated and uninterrupted time!
Learn more about the retreat and complete the questionnaire if you are interested in attending. Upon completion of the questionnaire, you will receive a notification to submit your deposit to solidify your spot for the retreat! Once your deposit is paid, your spot is secure and the countdown begins!
A special thank you goes to the wonderful contributors noted below who have helped to make the September retreat a success!
Buff City Soap
Faith, Family & Career
Home Plate Cooking
KimsKandles
Project 3.9.10
Scribe Tribe Publishing Company
How could you benefit from a writing retreat? Have you ever considered attending one?