Once a quarter, I take a day of PTO. Turn on my OOO message, set my Slack status to palm tree emoji, and leave my work laptop in my backpack. On these particular days, I’m not traveling, I don’t have a vacation planned, and I’m not ill. Instead, I’m using my PTO to give myself the gift of a one-day writing retreat.

For those of us with full-time jobs or caretaking responsibilities, an official writing residency, which often means two to four weeks at a remote location, just isn’t possible. Which is why I have unofficially embraced the One-Day Writing Retreat, right in the comfort of my own home. 

While this is infinitely easier, it’s not as simple as taking a day off and plopping down at your desk. To create a true retreat, you need to do a little prep work and  approach the day like the sacred event that it is. Here are a few things you can do to honor your work and make the most of your day. 

Timing is everything.

In my experience, generating new work is easier to do in the margins of my life. I can revise a short story before I head to the office, send myself voice notes while walking the dog, and finish a whole novel by writing a scant 422 words a day. 

But there comes a point in most projects where a long, uninterrupted stretch of time is essential to truly see what you’re working with. Maybe you’re about to dive into the second draft of your novel, organizing a poetry or essay collection, searching for common themes in a group of short stories, or researching a particularly twisty moment in your memoir. The timing of your one-day writing retreat should be a strategic decision, ideally in pursuit of a specific goal.  

For my most recent retreat, I was working on the sixth and (god, I hope) final draft of my novel. I needed to start on page one and read it out loud so I could hear how it flowed, where it stuck, if there was enough momentum from scene to scene, chapter to chapter. Did the subplot feel like part of the larger story, or an annoying interruption? Had I laid the groundwork in earlier scenes for the finale at the end? Were themes echoed, were threads taut? Was I excited to turn the page and keep reading? The timing was perfect for a one-day writing retreat, and my marathon writing session allowed me to cover more ground in one day than I normally would in a month. 

As you reach critical moments in your project, think about the timing of your one-day writing retreat. Just as a writer’s biggest fear can be a blank page, the thought of so many empty hours stretched before you can be paralyzing. That’s why I rarely use my retreats for generating new work; instead, I ride the momentum I’ve already built. 

Prepare your space 

This isn’t about your writing space. I don’t care what your desk looks like—maybe you write best hidden by stacks of books and loose papers, maybe you write at the kitchen table, maybe your bed is the source of all your creativity and inspiration. Whatever works for you! When I talk about space, I mean the rest of your home. 

One of the reasons people prefer to travel for writing residencies (and, for that matter, vacations) is because it frees them from the distractions of home. If your house is a mess, if there are stacks of dishes in the sink, if the laundry needs to be folded, if the hall closet needs to be organized—those things will suddenly seem incredibly necessary the second your one-day writing retreat begins. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been putting these tasks off for days or weeks—when the alternative is actually writing, you’d be shocked at how motivated you are to do literally anything else.

God forbid you spend your precious creative time cleaning a toilet, so do it the day before. The night before your one-day writing retreat, clean your home. Enlist your family’s help, if possible. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just enough to not be distracting.  As an added bonus, and to thank yourself for prioritizing your creative endeavors, buy a bouquet of grocery store flowers and put them on your clean dining room table, where you’ll see them whenever you head to the kitchen for a snack or a drink. Which brings us to tip number three. 

Plan your meals 

Food is life, but it’s also a distraction. One of the best parts of an official writing residency is that often, your food is taken care of. (The giant cheese spread during my two weeks at the Vermont Studio Center is the whole reason I started eating dairy again.) When you’re hosting yourself for a one-day writing retreat in your own home, you’re both the artist and the chef. 

Creativity requires sustenance (this is why my writing newsletter has a dedicated section titled “Snack Break”). Make sure you’re well fed with as little work on your part as possible. Before your retreat begins, stock your kitchen with your favorite food and drinks. Order lunch (delivery, if possible) and put someone else in charge of dinner.  

I’ve found that the late afternoon home stretch of a one-day writing retreat can be the most difficult. You have my permission to revive yourself with a fancy beverage, whether that’s a sparkling kombucha, your favorite beer, or a bottle of bubbly. Writing is fun, and taking time for your creative endeavors is worth celebrating. 

Reach for inspiration 

Writers’ block is always  upsetting; it can be downright tragic on a day you’ve chosen to devote entirely to your craft. At least once during your one-day writing retreat, you will stare helpless and frozen at the blank page, but don’t panic. 

To get things moving again, keep a stack of your favorite reading material nearby, and reach for it as needed. Read a poem, page through the opening of your favorite novel, dive into a short story, pull a writing prompt or exercise out of a hat (literal or figurative!) and let inspiration arrive. I’ve found that consuming  something in the opposite genre of my work can be helpful—a poem if I’m writing a novel, 15 minutes of TikToks if I’m working on a braided essay. (Don’t judge.) The point is to get briefly out of your head and remind yourself that the world is brimming with interesting ideas, beautiful art, and hilarious animal videos. Your work is part of that long and sacred tradition. Let yourself enjoy it, and then get back to it. 

Take a break 

If you’re like me, you don’t often devote eight hours straight to your creative projects, and your brain is going to feel like mush about halfway through the day. The good news is that you don't have to spend every minute of your one-day writing retreat working. 

I still forbid you from cleaning a toilet, but taking an afternoon walk with your dog, rolling out your mat for some meditative exercise, or pulling some weeds in your garden can be a great way to let your mind productively wander. 

On my most recent writing day, I began at 8:30 am, after I’d gone to the gym, had breakfast, and walked the dog. I read, revised, and wrote until 4:30 pm, with a few other short breaks here and there. I even took 30 minutes to read a novel in the middle of the day, which felt like the height of luxury and something I could only do at a writing retreat. After each break, I felt refreshed and ready to work a little more, and because I stayed in the world of my project, because I knew I was coming right back, it all counted as work. After all, some of the best writing happens when you’re not at your desk. 

Ready. Set. Write. 

Whenever I wrap up a one-day writing retreat, I immediately consider taking another day or two of PTO to keep the momentum going. But the truth is that I don’t actually want to spend all my vacation days at my desk. I’m dedicated to my art, but I’m also human.

And so I return to my precious 45 minutes a day, and try to be grateful for the time I have, the time I’ve given myself. I think about my work and admire the flowers on the dining room table, still in bloom. I keep going, as much as I can for as long as it takes, until the work feels done.