Choose Your Own Adventure
Retreats, Conferences, and How to Build Writing Community
Whenever I interview any artist, I ask them about their own continuing education.
My parents are doctors, and I grew up watching them having to continually educate themselves (for lack of a better way to put it). Every year, they had to do a certain number of hours of classroom learning to maintain their licenses. This made, and still makes, sense to me. Even the most expert individuals in their fields still need to stay up to date on what’s going on. I see no reason why this can’t be applied to art, for art, like any other discipline, evolves and changes with time. Your own skills evolve and change with time, whether you’re painting, writing, acting or doing any other kind of artistic craft.
Writing is a solitary pursuit. I don’t think anyone is under any delusion about that. Unless you’re writing a novel with someone else, it’s you alone in front of your machine, eking out the words. That’s why I’m always interested in what other artists do to maintain their skills - do they do it all alone? Do they go to conferences? Do they go to the middle of the woods and not speak to any other human for days on end? I want to know!
Conferences and residencies aren’t necessarily just for building your skills as a writer, though that can certainly help! They can also be sources of great community, and a place to find other writers to sympathize and network with.
My own personal experience in deepening my writing practice has come in a variety of different formats: an actual degree, attending conferences, going on a writing retreat, taking classes, and participating in a writing group. Below are some considerations when looking for a place to call (writing) home.
Master of Fine Arts
I’m not going to go into too much detail here, because I’ve written about my reasons for getting my Master’s here extensively. You can find the two part post linked below.
I will say this: school inherently allows you to build community, and I know I can reach out to my professors for advice or for any questions I may have. Some have even been featured in interviews in this newsletter. I’m also still friends with many of my cohort, and we’ve helped each other edit pieces and get jobs. Getting my Master’s is partially what convinced me to move to Rhode Island. I was finishing my degree when the pandemic broke out, and I knew that if I moved to Rhode Island (where Salve Regina is) that I’d have a built in community of people I already knew - aka my friends and classmates.
Writing Classes and Workshops
The above leads to the below, so to speak. Outside of getting a formal degree, there are many writing classes and workshops available. I taught creative writing at both a collegiate and non-collegiate level, both online and in person. Even if you don’t think there’s anything in your area, I guarantee you there probably is. One of the colleges I taught at had a program for local residents, college professors would teach on a subject of their choice. I also taught at the public libraries near me. And if in person isn’t your jam, there are online courses as well. There are some here on Substack.
Writing classes can help you pinpoint what you’re interested in and what you want to work on. Writing workshops can offer great feedback for work already in progress. Both can be a source of shared space and community. My current writing group developed out of a class I took years ago at Grubstreet.
Writing Conferences
Speaking of Grubstreet, I’ve been to their Muse and the Marketplace conference a few times, and it’s a great place to not only learn from renowned authors, but also a great place to network and build connections. I volunteered previously when I lived in Boston, and went as an attendee this past May.
Much like with classes and workshops, there’s a ton of different conferences about. AWP has a huge, very big conference every year. I’d also love to make it to the Frankfurt Book Fair someday (imagine the number of books I could attain there.)
The difference with conferences is that they tend to be 1) shorter and 2) in fun locations. If you’re looking to travel, or have friends in cities where the conferences are being held, this is a great excuse to go! Conferences can also be very overwhelming, like drinking from a firehose. You’re effectively ‘on’ for a few days nonstop, but they can be fun (and a tax write off).1
Writing Retreats & Residencies
I just went on a retreat! It was great! Highly recommend
I group writing retreats and residencies under the same heading because while they have some differences which I will get into momentarily, they revolve around the same theme: going somewhere to write. The goal is to get you out of your day-to-day environment so that you can focus on writing and creative work.
Retreats like the one I just did with
and retreats often come with some kind of structured program. We did have lots of down time and it was lovely, but there usually is a plan.Residencies are often longer, and self-directed. Think 6-8 weeks, and you generally have to apply with what you intend to work on. There’s some very famous ones (Yaddo, Macdowell) but then there’s smaller ones, too, like the one I went to in 2022. I wrote more about it below, but it was in Vermont and two weeks long, which was the perfect amount of time to run away.
It’s no secret that most writers do not write as their full time jobs, so residencies and retreats can be a great reset, providing a block of time where you can do nothing but focus on writing. I’ve met lovely people at both the residency and retreat I went to, and the benefit of these spaces is that the people are generally there to write. Not that you won’t find writers in any of the other places I mentioned, but there might be publishing and industry professionals in addition to writers and teachers.
Writing Groups
Probably the most informal of the bunch, Writing Groups are places where writers (ha) meet to either work in tandem, or discuss what they’ve done. This can be a workshop, but more often than not, it’s a way to hold yourself and your peers accountable. Mine meets twice a month, and we use the first half to catch up, and the second half to actually write. While you should want to write for yourself, it can help to know that the writers from your writing group are waiting for your next chapter.
A word of caution: writing groups can take a while to form. Before this current iteration, I was in two that failed. They all started out as a natural extension of classes I had taken, but they didn’t last more than a month or two. That wasn’t to say the writers in it were bad, just that schedules were hard, life got in the way, and the timing wasn’t right. Out of everything on this list, forming a Writing Group will involve the most trial and error. I still think they are useful, and I do deeply love mine, but if you tried one and it didn’t work out, it’s not you. The ingredients need to be right for this one to work longterm.
Go Forth and Wander! (write)
Ultimately, your mileage will vary on whatever route you pick. Maybe you like the comfort of a regular meeting, and a writing group would serve your needs. Maybe you don’t have the time or resources to go to a conference, but there’s a local class nearby. Though writing may seem solitary, there’s many ways you can find and build a community around and with word nerds. Writer friends truly will save you when you’re in the thick of it.
Part of finding a workable writing community is knowing what you’re looking for and what works for you. At this point in my writing life, I don’t get a whole lot out of individual classes. I know that the next thing I need to do is write my book, and until I actually do that, there’s not a whole lot I can gain from classroom instructor. That’s not to say that won’t change, that’s just where I am right now!
No New Books™️ Challenge
Let’s see, where did we leave off? Oh yes, I bought a shit-ton of books (technical term) in the UK. I lasted another 10 days before buying more books, mainly because it was Small Business Saturday last weekend and I live across the street from a bookstore.
I figured, why not kill two birds with one stone? Help a small business and preorder all of the sequels I need for next year so I can once again have a chance of making it more than 50 days without buying books once 2025 arrives.
My conversation went something like this:
Me: “Can I preorder a bunch of these books please?” *displays list*
Sales Clerk: “Oh you don’t have to pay today, you can just pay when they come in.”
Me:
Sales Clerk:
Me: “…but it’s Small Business Saturday…”
In the end, I bought everything in one go and now will be getting a bunch of phone calls when they arrive. Whether it was on Small Business Saturday or not, consider buying gifts this year from a small business! Or a bookstore, more precisely. I come from a long line of small business owners, and many make a huge portion of their income for the year ahead during this time frame. Amazon won’t miss your money. Besides, Jeff Bezos is evil and we don’t want to help him continue his weird space experiments right? Right.
Streak to Beat: 50 days (January 1st - February 19th)
Last streak: 37 days (September 18th - October 24th)
Current streak: 3 days (December 1st - Present)
Mug Moment of the Week
This week’s Mug Moment of the Week is brought to you by my past trip to the UK. Back in March when I went to London with my friend Emilie, I saw this absolutely delightful teacup and saucer set. I decided it wouldn’t make sense to try to get it home with me, as there was no room in my bag and I couldn’t prevent it from breaking. So I did the next logical thing: taking a bunch of pictures of it then buying it on eBay when I got home.
This is technically more teacup than mug, but I’m allowing it because it fulfills the same purpose: acting as a vehicle for transporting tea to me. Honestly, I might have been underestimating teacups this entire time. (Says the woman who goes to High Tea regularly.) The china that this is made of doesn’t insulate as well as my other mugs (not complaining!) so that means that the tea cools down to a more reasonable drinking temperature much quicker, meaning I get to have more tea. Genius, I tell you.
While this is not necessarily a ~festive~ mug, please enjoy the lit swag in the background. I have more Christmas mugs to share in the coming weeks, don’t you worry.
If you’re a full time writer, all of these are tax write-offs.
I meant to tell you how much I enjoyed the saga of how you managed to acquire books in the UK. My trick is to bring books to read en route and in the evenings. I donate those books to Oxfam or to little libraries on the street and then have room in my bag for my new books bought in London! - Susan (fellow Rhode Islander)