Writing Marathon 2019

I have written about Writing Marathons on the blog before. I did my first one back in 2015 – that process lead to the book “Values Count”. During that weekend, most of the ideas and word writing for that book actually happened. The second marathon took place in 2017. This time I had two books in the mix. “Insight Coaching” and “The Journey to Wonder” gave me the focus for that weekend. Earlier this year I attempted a third marathon writing weekend. It didn’t work – I was exhausted and had done little preparation in advance. That experience taught me to be more intentional ahead of the weekend, and to make sure that I build in exercise and connection with others.

Each time I do this process I learn so much. As I write this it is Saturday and I am started again. This time I’m wavering between calling it a Writing Marathon or a Writing Retreat. Somehow the second title seems gentler and more appropriate. It’s lunchtime on the first day and I have produced a couple of thousand words. I’m pacing myself, I even went for a walk mid-morning to make sure that I am balancing things out. 

This afternoon I am heading out to look at art at the Tate Gallery for an hour. That will be useful to stimulate me, and also to clear my head before the intense writing period between 16.00 and 19.00 – it took me a long time to figure out that late afternoon and early evening is the peak time for creativity and for me to be in flow. So, that is the precious time in the day that my activities are focused around. 

To scaffold the weekend with supportive techniques, I have a set of mimimum expectations which are easy to achieve, and then also a set of stretch goals. I am borrowing the term “scaffolding” from Julian Stodd. He uses it in an educational context to describe the things that we put in place to help us to learn (I think!) For me, the word is really helpful, because of the visual image it creates, of a supporting structure to help whilst building something really amazing!

By the end of Tuesday – yes it’s four days long – I want to have made significant progress with at least one of the two books which have been languishing in unfinished mode since 2017. The Writing Retreat becomes a process of getting unstuck and getting things finished. The first rough draft!