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Image by Victoria Strukovskaya

The Alongside Retreat

A Supported Writing Retreat at Home

The Alongside Retreat is a 100% virtual writing retreat, designed for writers and creative minds who want to sink into a productive and inspired atmosphere at home.

Writing residencies, retreats, and conferences can be wonderful.​ I've been to a few life-changing ones, and I'm incredibly grateful for the time I spent there. I also see a lot of people I admire creating and hosting very cool and thoughtfully designed in-person retreats, and I always jot them down in my Notes app for another time. 

But, in this season of my life, it's once in a blue moon that I can get away for anything longer than a night. Many residencies, which tend to have a minimum stay of around two weeks, aren't in the cards for me. Retreats can be shorter, but they're still tough.

Because of that, I've spent the last few years curating my own writing retreats, and I've spent a lot of time thinking about the value of a retreat in place. I've also realized that a virtual retreat can potentially serve writers in lots of different scenarios.

 

Logistically speaking, a virtual retreat is a good fit for writers who:

  • Have childcare and/or family caregiving obligations​

  • Have pets (most retreats/residencies/conferences do not allow them)

  • Have limited vacation days or PTO

  • Manage a chronic physical or mental health condition that makes travel and/or changes in routine less desirable

  • Like to work in familiar spaces vs. unfamiliar ones, and find it easier to tap into creativity with fewer changes in routine

  • Cannot financially accommodate the cost of a retreat, residency, or conference (though note that some do have scholarships!)

A virtual retreat takes less planning, less activation energy, and doesn't require you to step away from your life. It can co-exist alongside your life and allow you to do your work and create your art in your home and community. 

How an Alongside Retreat Works

The Alongside Retreat is a writing retreat that runs alongside the life you already have.

 

It can be as short as a week, or as long as a month (or more!)

The Alongside Retreat is open writers with any level of writing experience, at any stage in their process.

Registration

You register for a retreat.

The registration process will ask you to:

1) Complete a form about your goals. 

2) Pay for your retreat.

3) Book your pre-retreat 1:1 meeting.

Monday / Retreat begins

You receive an email from me in the morning on Day 1 of your retreat and respond with your intentions for the day.

 

AM: Our morning email is very brief so that it doesn't take time away from your writing or pull you out of the creativity dreamland. 

PM: In the late afternoon, you receive another email from me. In your reply, you tell me how your day is going, what hurdles you have encountered, and anything you need particular support with.

One week before retreat: Planning

You receive the Virtual Retreat Guide via email a week before your retreat starts.

 

This guide will help you plan your schedule, prepare your space, and make the most of your retreat.

Tuesday / Retreat continues

Tuesday has the same flow as Monday. You'll work on your project with the support of a morning and evening check-in via email.

Wednesday / 1:1 check-in

If you want extra support mid-way through your retreat, you can book a 20-minute check-in via Zoom. I run Wednesday check-ins from 10:00 am-12:30 pm EST. This is optional! If things are flowing and you don't need the live check-in, that's great too. 

A few days before retreat: 1:1

We have our scheduled pre-retreat 1:1 meeting on the Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday before your retreat begins. 


Your Alongside Box will arrive in the mail around this time as well! 

Thursday / Retreat continues

Thursday flows like Monday and Tuesday. 

Friday / Retreat concludes
 

You'll receive a morning check-in as usual. In the afternoon, you'll receive a reflection exercise. This document is just for you, but we'll discuss your thoughts at your post-retreat 1:1, which can be held on the day your retreat ends (Friday), the next morning (Saturday), or during the following week. We'll use the time to reflect, talk about what's next, and celebrate your progress.

Image by Aaron Burden

Book the Alongside Retreat

Please email Gemma (gemma [@} alongsideeditorial.com) to schedule your Alongside Retreat. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Gemma_22.jpg

On a personal note...

My name is Gemma (she/her). I'm a writer, editor, and the founder of Alongside Editorial. For a decade, I worked at a 7-month residency program for emerging artists and writers. For several years, I even lived on site, and I got to soak up the magic of being in a creative haven. (That apartment is where my book began.) At this organization, I also spent many years managing the online writing workshops program, an experience that cemented my belief in the power of virtual spaces.

The Alongside Retreat is something I have (unknowingly!) been creating for my whole life. I've always been someone who needed to carve out quiet, special, creative places in my mind, and I don't think it's hyperbole to say that my inner creative world has been life-saving on some occasions. I feel so grateful for it.

I am equally grateful for the creative friends and colleagues who fill my life. It would be entirely too lonely to do this alone. Solitude is helpful for my process, but it can't be the only thing. 

It's my hope that the Alongside Retreat will bring you a steadying sense of support, a chance to be curious and inspired by your own work, and the opportunity to feel wonder at your own creative soul and inner world.

Your projects and ideas, whether they are in your head, on paper, or in the ether somewhere, are real and important to me and I am grateful for the chance to talk with you about them and hold a commitment to them alongside you. 

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