The Most Affordable, Accessible Writers’ Retreat: your friend’s attic, your aunt’s basement

It’s great to get away to an “official” writers’ retreat center when and if you can. But if that isn’t possible, don’t give up hope for protected time and space conducive to generating, revising, submitting, or refueling. I have a treasured friend from my law school days that hosts me for an overnight every so often. We both understand that these visits are different than our usual time socializing. I secrete myself away on her third floor to write, read, and sleep. On occasion I’ll pop downstairs and she’ll usually feed me something. If you don’t have a friend like this, try really hard to make one (or offer to house sit).