Why am I organizing a writer retreat?

My friends "I want to write a book" problem

I'm someone who doesn't have a big problem with writing books, articles, and courses. But over the years, I've had a lot of conversations with friends who are telling me that they have this idea of writing a book but that they have a hard time then really either starting or finishing it.

This year in particular, it was very interesting to see that there isn't just one friend who is working on a book, but a few. And I've even started to coach a few people in their writing process.

Turning the problem into a lovely moment

So I figured out that if there are so many people who are struggling with their book writing process, maybe there is a service to create here, or at least a lovely moment to create for my friends.

So this summer, I'm organizing a writing retreat in the Swiss Alps with a few friends. It's one week where we live in a chalet, and we will each of us work on a book of ours.

Might be the first book, might be the second book, or might be the tenth book.

Why a retreat?

1. Blocked time

The idea is really to set aside time in the middle of the year to really do some big progress on the book writing. We are all busy people, with families, jobs and community work we do. So writing a book in the middle of all that is really a challenge.

2. Social pressure

In a retreat format with other writers you "just do it" because of the lovely social pressure. Everyone comes and thinks: "Shit! The other ones are writing!" so they say: "I have to write!"

3. Community moments

But it also comes with the benefits of a tiny temporary practice community. Where throughout the week we can support each other, maybe review parts of the writing that we've made, and just have a lovely time together

An experiment

For now this is just a lovely experiment I'm doing with a few friends. But who knows, if it ends up working well, I might turn this into something that is open to other wanting to be writers or blocked writers.