The last few days I've indulged myself with a writer's retreat at home. I've taken a couple of days off work, the children are with their father, I've said no to social invitations and I've encouraged myself to write as much as possible. It's been a lovely few days of letting my characters speak to me without all the usual noise surrounding me.
Having a writer's retreat at home is a great way to knock off thousands of words in a day.
Clear the decks for a few hours, a few days or a week and see the difference it makes to your word count ...
Here's my top tips for enjoying a writer's retreat at home:
1. Make your writer's retreat at home as dreamlike as possible. Haruki Murakami says that he likes to stay in a dreamlike state when he writes. In between writing, do your best to laze about and daydream. Imagine you have a velvet chaise lounge in a wood-panelled library. Take a break, lie down and think, whatever your surroundings are like.
2. Avoid cooking complex meals, calling customer service centres to pay a bill or answering a message from a needy friend. Avoid anything that will ruin your daydream state.
3. Be anti-social and say no to seeing people. If someone asks you to catch up, the answer is no. You are taking a holiday from real life. Other people may not understand this, but you have a date with one of your true loves ... your book.
4. Read an inspiring novel. Reading motivates writers. Read for pleasure and to study 'how did they do that?' Read while you're eating breakfast, read in between writing, read before sleeping. Just read.
5. Have an afternoon nap. There is nothing as effective to re-set your brain than an afternoon nap. Set your timer for 40 minutes and marvel at the words you write in your next writing session.
6. Eat and drink well. Be aware of the fuel that you are putting into your body. Have a good breakfast and healthy snacks (see my previous posts on healthy writing snacks and best brain foods). Avoid sugar slumps. Be prepared beforehand and have some easy 10-minute meals in the fridge or freezer for dinner so that you don't waste too much time cooking.
7. Create a familiar environment for yourself each time you write. Like a baby is soothed by a structured bedtime routine; a bath, a book, a lullaby, so too can a writer be soothed by a familiar environment and routine. For me, I like to sit on my fluffy blue chair at my teak writer's desk in the study and I play Sigur Ros on the stereo - the same two albums each time.
8. Avoid mental fatigue. Write for as long as you are focused. If you feel your mind drifting, step away from your computer. Don't sit there and browse things on the internet or check your Facebook feed - all this drains your brainpower. Go on a walk or water the garden, do something pleasurable to restore your mental ability.
I'm Rowena. I'm an author and blogger. My latest novel is The Replacement Wife, available as an ebook from HarperCollins, from $2.99. Luisa tries to find a wife for her husband so she can exit an unhappy marriage happily.
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