Author: Alison Hazel   –   Updated: July 2025

Planning a Writing Retreat for Artists

Introduction

I have been working as a hobby artist for about three years now. And along with being a hobby artist, I post some things on social media, not so much to be honest, but I also run a this website and a blog which you may know.

Why a Retreat?

The idea of a retreat is that you go away for a few days, maybe to a hotel, perhaps to the woods and go to a cabin and work on your art. This sounds like the perfect weekend to me.

My Friend

I have a friend who is a writer and she’s working on her novel. Often when we get together, writing is what we end up talking about. All the writing she’s doing and all the writing I’m doing. The writing I’m doing is really the blog articles and this newsletter, so even though I’m a hobby artist and I’m creating artworks with paints and colours and so on, I also have to produce some writing each week for my audience.

Writing

To be honest, writing is not really my strength, but it’s something that I’ve been practicing and trying to get better at recently. This winter I took a grammar course at our local university and also a course about writing for the web as well. I have to say, it wasn’t easy.

At that level, they do assume you know a lot and I struggled to catch up, to keep up, but I pushed on. I’m in no position to take a writing exam whatsoever, or language, or grammar or comprehension, but it did help me to solidify some of my writing techniques for the web and for newsletters in 2025. Because the way we communicate now is different to what it was 50 years ago. Back then my father would you buy a daily newspaper and read it at the breakfast table and he had another edition in the evening for after dinner. Then at the weekend there were the massive Saturday and Sunday bonus editions to keep him busy as well.

But back to my story.

I had an idea about doing a writing retreat with my friend and I approached her about it and she was pretty keen. We thought we would go to one of these little resorts nearby us where they have some hot springs, but we couldn’t get in for the summer weeks we were thinking of. Originally, back in May, we thought we would go sometime in the summer, so that would be June, July or August time when the weather is really pleasant.

Writing Retreat Planning

Our Retreat Criteria

We originally set some ground rules about what we wanted in our writing retreat. Neither of us had been on a writing retreat before, so we were planning it from scratch to suit ourselves.

The criteria that we had were:

• It must be within two hours’ drive of Vancouver which is where we live.
• It had to have a pool or a hot spring for relaxing in.
• We were going to take separate rooms, because we basically both preferred that.
• It had to be reasonably affordable for both of us, so it would not be a 5-star resort.
• Our budget was originally CAD$150 (US$110) per night and in the end, it came out to be CAD$180 (US$132) per night.

Two Night Stay

Because of her and my work schedules, we decided we would not go on a full weekend, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but rather we would take a Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. And we’re calling it a weekend, so we would leave home on the Sunday, stay Sunday and Monday night, and return home on the Tuesday. Basically, it was a two night stay away, but we still called it a weekend. We were looking for a hotel, resort or lodge that met all of these criteria.

Retreat Accommodation

My friend looked around for places for our writing retreat and a lot of them were full, a lot of them were expensive and a lot of them were too far away. Finally, we plumped on a hotel in Whistler, which is around 125 kilometres from Vancouver. It will take us about one and a half hours to get there by road. We are traveling in her car on highway 99 generally referred to as the “Sea to Sky Highway” up the west coast of British Columbia, Canada.

Retreat Hotel

Room Booking

Once we settled on the dates, she made a booking for herself and sent me the link. That same evening, I made a similar booking for myself. We both got the exact same type of room at the same price. I’m not much of a traveler, so I had to download the Expedia app and fiddle around with that. Finally, I had to phone the helpline, speak to a human and get it all sorted out to make sure that I got my $30 coupon, which I did.

Retreat Timetable

What to Do

We were six weeks away from the event, so we had time to get organized which was great because we had time to sort things out. There are many things buzzing through my head at this point because there’s a lot to do and a lot to organize. If you’re not careful, you end up not doing anything like the writing we had planned, you’re just sitting by the pool casually sipping your pina colada.

Retreat Timetable Draft

I decided to draft out a timetable showing how I saw the weekend would develop because we hadn’t really spoken about it that much. You never know what people are expecting or even what you’re expecting. So, I just wanted to make things a little clearer in my head as well about what I had in mind for this writing retreat, so I could share my ideas with her as well. By sharing my thoughts on what we would be doing, we could chat about the plan and make sure that we were on the same page.

Literally the same page.

So, I crafted out this timetable.

• Read more about What to Pack for a Writing Retreat for Artists.

Sunday

7:00 AM: Texts

Sunday started with us each giving each other a good morning text to make sure we are alive and kicking, up and about and ready to get going.

9:00 AM: Pick Up

She picks me up from my place and we drive to Whistler.

11 AM: Arrive at the Hotel

When we arrive at the hotel we probably have to leave our bags at the reception because we could only check into our rooms at 4:00 PM. The plan is to check the bags with the hotel concierge and circle back around and pick them up later.

11:30 Brunch

Quick brunch and beverage.

12:30 PM: Afternoon Writing Session

Here I see us both with our laptops doing some writing in the coffee shop in the lobby of the hotel. I did check out that they had a coffee shop beforehand. I thought we could start our writing immediately and not get sidetracked with sightseeing.

4:00 PM: Check Into Rooms

So now we can pick up our bags from the bag check at the concierge desk and go up to our rooms. We can get things sorted out, unpack and freshen up. At this point I may want to take a rest, but if not, then perhaps an hour of writing in the room before dinner.

6:00 PM: Dinner

Rendezvous in the in the hotel lobby and have dinner together in the little restaurant in the hotel. There will be only two dinners and these I think will be the main meals of the day.

7:30 PM: Walk

Walk outside, promenade and get some fresh air. Probably take some photos as well. Again, now there is the option of another hour or two writing either on the patio or in the lobby.

9:00 PM: Room

Back in my room for some reflection and writing about the day. Maybe some journaling as well. At this point I also want to do some “review” and the review was of the writing that I had done earlier in the day, because we are here for the writing. Additionally, I want to set up in my mind what I would be focussing on the next day, and what my next day’s project and word count goals would be.

Monday

5:00 AM: Swim?

It depends on what time I wake up if I may swim.

6:00 AM: Wake up

Obviously, I take a shower, wash my hair and freshen up. I’ll wear some light makeup, jewelry, some comfy clothes and shoes.

Morning Routine: Gratitude Journaling

Most mornings I do a little bit of gratitude journaling. Writing down by hand in my journal what I’m grateful for and these are simple things such as being grateful for my family, my friends, my health, my creativity and so on. I have no doubt that on this morning I’ll be being grateful for having got to go on this writing retreat with my good friend.

Stretching

I sometimes wake up a bit creaky, so I like to do morning stretches. This is not Jane Fonda feel-the-burn type stretching, its gentle stretching of my whole body, backwards, forwards and sideways to ease out any kinks which may have tried to creep in during the night.

6:15 AM: Coffee

Coffee and croissant in the coffee shop. I had no idea if they have croissants, but one would assume they would have here in Canada. I’m not much of a breakfast person, but I definitely enjoy some coffee and maybe a little pastry just to get me going. After the coffee, I would probably take a little walk outside. I would hope there was a verandah or a patio where I could get some fresh air and perhaps even hear the birds chirping and things like that. Take more photos. I may do a little sketch in my travel sketchbook while I’m about it.

8:00 AM: Morning Writing Session

This is the main morning writing chunk. It will probably start at 8:00 AM or 9:00 AM, maybe even 7:00 AM it depends on how the morning goes. I would anticipate that we would either be writing in the coffee shop or perhaps on a patio somewhere in the fresh air with our laptops. Maybe by the pool, although it’s hard to see your screen in the sunlight outside. This morning session of writing would go on until noon, so it’s going to be a solid three or four hours of writing.

12 Noon: Lunch

Meet in the lobby for lunch together in the bistro or restaurant of somewhere for an hour or so.

1:00 PM: Walk Outside

Another walk outside and it’s not that I’m a big walker, but I want to make sure that I wasn’t stuck in the hotel for the whole three days. I want to get outside, even if I’m just walking in the grounds of the hotel or in the gardens or whatever is available. Just to get a little bit of exercise after eating.

1:30 PM: Afternoon Writing Session

This is the afternoon session of writing. Hopefully we could find a spot to do our writing either together or we can sit somewhere comfortably to do our main afternoon writing. This session will go on until around 4:00 PM, so it’s going to be a good two to two and a half hours of concentrated effort in the afternoon. I also wanted to make the afternoon session of writing slightly shorter than the morning one. In the morning when we’re fresher, you can get three or four hours of writing in. Whereas in the afternoon I may be starting to flag.

4:00 PM: Rest or Writing

Either continue writing for another hour to 5:00 PM or otherwise go back to the room for a rest. I do like to put my feet up in the afternoon. Why not? We’re away from our busy lives and we don’t want to be exhausted. At this point, my friend said she perhaps wouldn’t take a rest. She is likely to push on with her writing and that’s fine. Because to have a rest is on the schedule, I won’t feel bad saying, “I’m going to have a rest now” and doing so. However, if I did feel strong, I could push on with the writing and feel good about doing that.

6:00 PM: Dinner

Rendezvous again in the foyer for our Monday dinner in a restaurant in Whistler. Perhaps a glass of wine.

7:00 PM: Promenade

Once more a promenade or walk outside after eating just to limber up a little better. Let the food digest. This may or may not be what we actually end up doing, but I want it on the timetable to make sure I had the option to do so.

8:00 PM: Optional Evening Writing Session

If we’re feeling strong at this point, we can get another hour of writing in from 8:00 till 9:00PM. It just depends.

9:00 PM: Back to Room

Back to my room for reflection on the day and to review of the writing that I have done that day. Again, this is also the time when I’ll plan what I’ll be working on the next day writing wise. When I set up the timetable back in May, I didn’t know just how much writing I’m going to get done or whether I’m going to get sidetracked or whether some other ideas are going to come to me and I going to end up doing some different type of writing. I didn’t want to lay a firm structure to what I would write at what each session. I just want to have something loose which I can work with and flex into how I was feeling, how the weekend was going and even what the weather and vibe was like at the hotel.

Tuesday

5:30 AM: Morning Routine

Shower, dress and makeup. Gratitude journaling and some stretching in the room. Just like yesterday. Pack my bag and leave it in the room.

6:30 AM: Coffee

Coffee and pastry in the coffee shop.

7:00 AM: Morning Writing

Maybe squeeze in an hour of writing.

10 AM: Check Out

Check out of hotel. We only need to check out by 11:00 AM and I am going to ask for an extension for the Tuesday, so that we could check out later at around 2:00 PM. That would give us more time, as you’ll see later. But if we do have to check out at 10:00 AM, I’m going to leave my bags at the bag check at reception for pick up later in the day when we leave.

10:30 AM: Online Course

Presently I’m taking an online course with a college from London. This will be the 6th class out of 10 which I don’t want to miss. I’m going to try and find the business centre where I can get a private space to attend the Zoom class from 10:30 to 12:30, as I don’t want to miss the session. Whilst I’m taking this 2-hour online class, my friend will no doubt be writing in the coffee shop, if we did check out, or she will perhaps be toiling away at her word count on the patio.

1:00 PM: Leave Retreat Hotel

Leave the hotel. If we did organize a late checkout do so now or simply get our luggage from the concierge bag check. Load the car and be on our way. We plan to stop at a small town, Squamish, on the way back to the city. We will perhaps find a place for lunch there. There is no rush. We now continue on our journey back home to Vancouver.

3:00 PM ish

Back in the city. My friend drops me off at my home and she drives on to her residence.

6:00 PM

We send each other thank you texts and say how much fun our weekend was. We celebrate what a fabulous time we had.

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Overarch

Benefits

As a hobby artist you don’t need to do a writing retreat, but if you do decide to. it will enrich your writing for the months to come and probably your art life as well. Let me know if you’ve ever done a writing retreat or perhaps a rt retreat. I’d love to hear from you.

How it All Went

In a future Artzlife newsletter I’ll let you know how it all went and whether my detailed planning was of any use whatsoever. You’ll also get to hear from my friend about her experiences in her own words on our first ever writing retreat for artists.

More to Come

And in a still later edition, I’ll share some of my travel sketchbook images from our weekend away as well.

Author Bio: Alison Hazel