By Allison Okay Williams

I’ve attended many writing conferences, every inspirational in their very own approach. The behemoth of AWP, with scholarly panels and a whole lot of small publishers on the conference flooring, with readings in each native bar, each night time. The nice and cozy, welcoming Hippocamp, the place Mary Karr, Dinty W. Moore, and different nonfiction notables gave not solely keynote speeches however their time and a spotlight. The commercial-fiction-focused Writers Digest Convention, the place I realized extra about writing my ebook from pitching fifteen brokers in 55 minutes than I’d taught myself in 3 years.

However the problem of conferences is taking that studying dwelling. I at all times depart with a full pocket book, stacks of handouts, new contacts to search out on social media. The pile sits on my desk. I’ll get to them, as quickly as I’ve come down from the journey. As quickly as I’ve unpacked. As quickly as…wait, what useful resource did I would like from that particular person? Who did I wish to introduce them to? And what on earth did I imply by “C-shaped entry paragraph double hook”?

At slower-paced residencies and retreats, I get pleasure from considerate mornings, getting up round 4AM, brushing my tooth in silence, going to no matter location I’ve made “my” place—a selected breakfast desk, a window seat, a nook of the library—and writing whereas the solar comes up. As Toni Morrison wrote about her course of:

I at all times stand up and make a cup of espresso and watch the sunshine come…for me this ritual contains my preparation to enter an area I can solely name nonsecular… Writers all devise methods to strategy that place the place they anticipate to make the contact, the place they turn into the conduit, or the place they interact on this mysterious course of. For me, gentle is the sign within the transaction. It’s not being within the gentle, it’s being there earlier than it arrives. It allows me, in some sense.

The sensation is wonderful. And but, by the center of the week, I crave stimulation: different writers to debate work with and share tales; a trainer to prod me with some suggestions or reassure me I’m writing in the appropriate course.

I would like the inspiration of a convention with the cosseting of a retreat.

So I created an occasion with the perfect elements of each. A miniature writing and publishing convention with simply 30 writers, onboard an ocean liner from Southamption to New York, daily at sea. Quiet areas and good meals. Panels and craft talks, with open instances to use what I simply realized—to work on ten pages with a brand new craft method, or write a pitch, or begin an essay. Editors to present instant suggestions on new work. Networking with different writers, together with informal encounters within the library, sunny walk-and-talks, and sitting down collectively at an enormous desk to inform tales over dinner and dessert. As author Sandra Eliason blogged after the 2024 Craft & Publishing Voyage on the Queen Mary 2:

This course design introduced alternatives not often out there. Every morning in a mixed session, a number of instructors led us to discover setting priorities for our artistic life, selecting and utilizing social media, crafting compelling first pages, querying, or being current in your writing. Every teacher made out there added one-on-one time, to evaluate particular pages or caught factors in a author’s work. Throughout breakout periods, one may stick with a single teacher over the week, or select a special one every day, relying on which matter addressed the author’s wants. We individuals sorted ourselves to suit our scenario, thus additionally studying from one another—I heard conversations about periods I didn’t attend, and which tidbits somebody wanted at this level of their writing.

Conferences, workshops and residencies are one of many nice items writers may give ourselves. The blessing of a structured day, the shock to our artistic system of a brand new place, and the astonishing quantity of psychological area not full of planning, searching for or making ready meals. Room to find what our course of is like after we’re not squeezing our course of into the all-too-small areas in our lives.

Writing occasions could be costly. Some require extremely aggressive purposes, references, writing samples; others are join and pay-to-play. Not all of us can take the time; we have now caregiving duties, jobs with restricted day without work. However when you can, it is best to. It’s astonishing how a lot we’re chargeable for in our every day lives, and the way little falls aside after we step away from our ‘duties.’ Even a three-day weekend in an area B&B can refocus your work, re-energize your course of, and reassure your author self that sure, you’re doing it proper.

There’s a fantastic curated listing of application-based writing residencies at The Write Life, and huge directories at ResArtis and the Alliance of Artist Communities. In the event you’ve had a residency you discovered transformative, please share within the feedback—among the finest methods to discover a residency is one other author sharing a spot they love.

I like guiding writers in a brand new location, assist them take the psychological area to write down. Each time, we end with vital progress. With essays snapped up by massive media. With books now revealed. With new course and dedication to our work.

Within the evenings on the Queen Mary 2, I watch the solar set over the North Atlantic, nightfall darkening above the waves. I stroll again to my room, previous writers in formal put on chatting over drinks, and writers in sweats within the quiet library for an additional hour of phrases after dinner. And I set my alarm an hour early, to work alone pages earlier than class.

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Brevity Weblog editor Allison Okay Williams, bestselling writer Andromeda Romano-Lax and literary agent Jessica Berg host the Craft and Publishing Voyage onboard Queen Mary 2, Sept 5-12, 2026.

Be part of our free Open Home on Zoom December 6^th, with mini-lessons on craft and publishing, data about journey and life on board, and your questions. Register and also you’ll additionally get the replay; attend dwell for unique reductions on cabins and occasion charges.

Tagged: queen mary 2, writing convention, writing retreat