The Hill Country does not have a dramatic autumn in the way that New England does. The color change is subtler, the temperature drop is gradual, and the shift is easy to miss if you are not paying attention. But for a retreat, the autumn conditions in this part of Texas are as good as it gets, and the reasons are specific. Read more →
The Writing and Solitude Retreat gets described incorrectly fairly often. People assume it is a workshop with craft sessions and manuscript feedback. It is not. It is five nights of time, quiet, and a daily walk, with the writing studio reserved for your group and Janet Marsden checking in once during the stay. This is a description of what that actually looks like.
Most people arrive at the question of retreat length by guessing. They pick two nights because it feels manageable, or five nights because they think they should. Neither instinct is wrong, but there is a more useful way to think about it, and it starts with understanding what actually happens to a person across the first few days of a retreat.
Most people who book a solo retreat stay have never done one before. They arrive with a vague sense that they need time away, a bag that is either overpacked or underpacked, and a small amount of anxiety about what they are supposed to do with two to five days of unstructured time. This is a practical account of what the first twenty-four hours tend to look like.
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