The Companion 013: Take World writing retreat

An invite.

Happy Sunday! A couple of my friends for the past year have delighted in making fun of me for going on so many writing retreats. Yes, I went to Jamaica with three friends on what was ostensibly a writing retreat (we did some writing and far more exploring). Yes, I also took myself to Lisbon. And the countryside in Oxfordshire. And Brighton. And Stroud… The list goes on.

For me, like many others, there is something about the separation from normal life that allows for creativity to flow unfettered. The cloud of distraction parts and sometimes, just suddenly, there is magic at your fingertips. In Jamaica, I remember writing while swinging slowly in a hammock, looking out across an endless sweep of jungle. In Lisbon, I watched a white bird swoop across the red tiles. In Stroud, I stared into a crackling fire. The new experiences and physicalities of the places I have been on writing retreats have been embedded into the writing I have created.

But, as always, the thing that makes a retreat special for me, are the people I meet with along the way. Back in May, my friend and author Georgina Lawton launched Take World writing retreats — aimed at women of colour but open to all women and gender non-conforming folk — which I ended up helping to co-host. We did daily yoga, ample writing sessions, talks from the likes of Nikesh Shukla and Ore Agbaje-Williams, a beach hike, and ate and drank (so much) authentic Portuguese food and wine. It was a smashing success, and one of the attendees recently secured her first book deal!

The women we met on that retreat were all kind and generous people, a mixture of spicy and soft, but all working on projects that spoke intimately to who they were and how they move through the world. Many of them left as good friends.

The next one is in November, and we’d love to invite anyone who is passionate about deepening their writing practice among like-minded souls to us. There’s one spot left, plus a free place open for lower-income writers.

Find out more here: www.take-world.com