Last week while my oldest daughter and her family were on vacation, I got to cat-sit at their place and enjoy a writing retreat. Just me, my grand-kitty, and quiet thinking and writing time.

Creatives have to make the most of whatever creating space and time they can set aside for themselves. It’s not always easy to do. I decided in advance that I would plan some breaks, including coffee with a friend, and leave the TV (and awesome gaming console) off.

Those solid blocks of uninterrupted time were so useful.

I’ve been working up an idea for a fantasy story that I think will be novel length. The plot outline, the characters, world building, magic system, etc. I’m super excited about this project.

It’s not the only writing project on my plate. I have a novelette to revise and cut down to less that 10k words. I attended a lecture about writing interactive fiction at the Dream Foundry online convention and now have a better idea of how to make my interactive fiction time-travel story work. On top of that I’m still busy with play-by-post roleplaying games.

Have you done a writing retreat? Was it useful for you?