Can I make a writing retreat at home?

It’s July and I’m taking most of the month off from my regular routine of classes and workshops. It’s time for my annual writing retreat. This time I’m staying home rather than packing it up and going off somewhere as I’ve done for several years. Instead of settling into a different and dedicated retreat space, I’ll still sleep in the same bed as every other night, I’ll still look at my same self in the same morning mirror. It will be the same view out the window, same chair, same writing table, coffee cup, notebook, computer.

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Returning To Old Habits

I’m house/kitty-sitting for a friend at her small studio in Santa Fe. Outside the sky is a blue I don’t have a name for and the cottonwoods along the Santa Fe River glow golden yellow. I came here after two weeks in Greece, a journey with my daughter, daughter-in-law, and our friend, to celebrate my birthday and for me to return to some of the places I’m writing about in my memoir. My time in Santa Fe is also a writing retreat and a time of solitude.

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When plans get changed

If you know me at all, you know how I love to get away for a writing retreat. Alone or with someone else; far away or close to home; couple of days or couple of weeks. Longer. I’ve traveled the world with my notebook in my suitcase; and taken my camp chair, a bottle of water, and an apple down the block to Balboa Park. I’ve retreated at spas, resorts, and cheap motels; on ships, trains, and in RVs; in tents, borrowed apartments, and others’ houses in home exchanges. I’ve packed up notebook and intention and gone to tropical islands, a cabin in the woods, and rented flats in riotous cities. I’ve gone to fishing camps, on a rafting trip, and more than a few jazz festivals where the music was my Muse. I’ve retreated in my living room, my bedroom, and my own back yard.

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