Retreat, Run for the Hills (not that there are many hills in Saskatchewan)

I have a lot of balls in the air–three books coming out in the next year (one on May 1st), several hundred students doing one of my online writing courses, school visits, a TD Book Week tour starting on May 5th, a regular slot on CTV which I have to read lots of books for (which I love, don’t get me wrong!), and then I have ideas for new books swirling, and all the usual dealings with my four kids and the endless to-do list looking after their needs requires. Sometimes I have to stop and take a moment to find the writer that I claim to be. See, some days it seems to me that I spend more time emailing than writing. Actually, it feels to me that most days I’m working my way through the practical side of managing my life and not getting to the actual writing part.

I know that I’m not the only one who struggles to balance writing/life/work. But here in Saskatoon, I have a little escape plan. There is a lovely retreat centre called Queen’s House of Retreat that lets out rooms for the day. Occasionally, not often, I drop the kids off at school and head here for the entire day. I tidy my laptop home screen, answer emails, write, (nap!), read, and still get back in time to have supper. At home, I have a space where I can work, but my kids love to be in there with me, and there is always the temptation at home to tidy/cook/answer the phone/procrastinate/play with the kids etc. Here at Queen’s House with my little room and my (not-so-secret-anymore) escape plan, I take a few hours to recalibrate.

Surprisingly, when I do this, I actually get some time to do the one thing I skip in my day-to-day life. Here, I spend time with my ideas. I think about what I’m working on, or my future ideas, and I look out the window and dream. It’s important for me to actually spend time with my imagination, I remember. It’s easier, sure, to work my way through my to-do list, but it’s more effective, strangely, for me to step outside my life just a little, tiny bit, to refuel for all the projects I want to work on–I’ve had the best ideas here, and I can suddenly see my way through projects that I’ve been stuck on.

I’m lucky that Queen’s House is neither expensive nor restrictive–they are welcoming and I am glad to be here, just for one more hour before I get home to make supper for five kids (we have one extra staying the night) and then to the huge pile of stuff at the bottom of the stairs that I need to tidy tonight!

I loved my daughter’s little note that she never finished as the image for this post–I always wonder what she was going to add! Use it for a writing prompt, if you would like to. If you have time….