Chemistry and writers' retreats
Mixology: stirring the heady cocktail of a random assortment of writers.
Retreat: Day One
There is always a nervous time before the commencement of a writers’ retreat. As a participant you worry whether you are going to like the people you will be sharing the upcoming few days with. As a mentor, the concern is not merely the desire to like the people there, but also hoping desperately for the group to gel.
More often than not both questions are answered by the end of the first meal.
You might imagine that harmony would be more likely were the group all the same kind of writer - i.e. all poets or all playwrights - but in my experience it’s diversity which is often key. At previous retreats where I have mentored, variety in terms of what people were writing has always been considerable. Last time: drafting a serious and important work of non-fiction; finalising a thesis for a history Ph.D.; putting together a film script for a short feature; working on a novel. Perhaps one of the reasons the group worked well was because there were no ‘turf wars’, each participant inhabiting their own space - like shapes on a Venn Diagram who only overlapped in one small area i.e. they were all writing.
It also helped that each of the attendees had very different backgrounds - as demonstrated one evening by a slightly alcohol-fuelled game of ‘Truth or Lie’..!
A couple of years ago, I mentored at an academic retreat attended by twelve members of the same university: professors, senior lecturers, lecturers and so forth. I was worried that a) I wouldn’t sufficiently understand the detail behind the subjects about which they were writing (which proved to be true in the main!), b) because of that I wouldn’t be able to help them (which fortunately proved untrue!), and c) the whole four days would be boring (it wasn’t).
In my experience - both as a mentor and an attendee - I think one of the things that helps bind a retreat group together is respect i.e. there is a mutual acceptance that everyone is there for the same reason. Yes, the formats or genres or subjects or ambitions or experience may be radically different, but there is something shared and common in the act of participation, the desire to write.
And now this retreat’s first meal is just a couple of hours away…
Retreat: Day Two
Some real success today in helping people with their writing journeys. First, my workshop about ‘looking at yourself in the mirror’ - which examines the why, who, how and what of writing - helped clarify motivations for one or two of the group. And then a couple of specific suggestions in the 1-2-1s seemed to have unlocked a door / help resolve an issue. It’s great when that happens; really rewarding!
Another workshop in half-an-hour on character profiling…
~
And in the evening it was my turn to read. I chose a short story - Downsizing, always a crowd-pleaser - plus four poems across a range of styles and themes. A very pleasant hour. I still recall how nervous I was when I first read at a retreat - ‘teacher’ showing off! - but now I’m much more relaxed about the whole thing. And confident too, I suppose.
Retreat: Day Three
Often it’s on the last day - and during any second 1-2-1s - where I find out how successful I have been as a mentor i.e. whether or not I have helped. Of the six people on the retreat, two didn’t really need my input (a Ph.D. writer and a published novelist), but I think the other four have found themselves in a better place - as evidenced by a considerable volume of new words on new pages in at least two cases. I was even called ‘a magician’ by one of the attendees!
This is so rewarding, and makes all the mental effort worthwhile.
And at the final-night ‘read-around’ everyone did indeed read - always another indication of how successful the previous few days have been.
Retreat: Day Four
After breakfast this morning everyone heads home - and I managed to sell a couple of books... I’m looking forward to slipping back into my usual routine.
I’m also looking forward four weeks to when I go on retreat myself, my annual ‘treat’, a little self-indulgence…or reward, depending on how you want to look at it!