Is it just me, or does even the word “retreat” make you feel better.

My writing friend Michelle Dicionoski is now at Hedgebrook, a worthy recipient of an Elizabeth George award. I’d never heard of Hedgebrook before but after reading Michelle’s descriptions and viewing the video at their website(click on the about hedgebrook line) http://www.hedgebrook.org/programdetails.php?id=1 it’s now my number one dream destination.

A llama farm on one side, a lavender farm on the other, cottages snuggled into leafy woods, a bath house with a heated floor and clawfoot tub, and four chefs cooking for seven women. What more could a writing working mother wish for (especially one without a bath or a chef!)

The school holidays finished a week ago but I still haven’t managed to glue my bum back onto the writing seat. My yoga studio http://www.freedom-yoga.com.au has been greedy for my time, interstate visitors and the usual demands of a mother’s life plus a complete lack of mojo have conspired to keep me from my manuscript in progress.

Luckily I have the fifth annual Evan’s Head Writers’ Retreat to look forward to. It may not be Hedgebrook or even Varuna but it works well for my best writing buddy Helena Pastor and me. We sit in our little beachside shack and edit each other’s work in a fabulous long weekend of writing, eating treats, swimming, chatting, laughing and sharing successes and rejections.

It’s only three nights, and we always wish it were longer. But it’s enough to refuel our exhausted working writing mother batteries.

Retreat is important for all writers but for writers who are also mothers it is essential.