Retreat...

To move away, draw back, recoil…in war, it’s for safety and signifies giving up ground. But the blessed word has a new meaning for me.

I gave the word new meaning when I went on a Writer’s Retreat last weekend in northwest Missouri, at Conception Abbey, and a retreat, it was. The Prairie Lands Writing Project hosted the event, and the fine-tuned schedule gave way to blocks of time to start a new novel. Writing for hours at a time with no phone, no email, no texts, no dogs, no doorbell, no interruptions at all. Bliss, is what we should rename it.

Every writer should try one…every author should embrace the silence and solitude of a monastery and experience the sheer inspiration that occurs because of it. I intend to find all the retreats in my area and replicate this feeling as much as possible! For now, I’ll answer my email and my phone, but I’ll feel the pull to move away, to leave when the next retreat comes my way.