Solo and Traveling Alone? Here's What Our Writing Retreats Are Really Like

Every solo traveler asks some version of the same question before they apply: who else is going to be in that room? Fair question. A group photo on Instagram doesn't tell you who you're actually flying across the world to sit across from. So here's the real, unglamorous breakdown of what it's actually like.

You Get Your Own Room

Private bedroom, unless you're coming with a friend and specifically want to share. Shared bathrooms, because this is a retreat, not a five-star resort with a butler. But you are not bunking with a stranger, and you are not expected to perform extroversion at 7am before coffee. Come as introverted as you want. You have a door that closes.

Everyone in the Room Was Vetted, Including You

Nobody walks in cold. Every writer goes through the same application and a call with me before they get a seat at the table. That means the day you show up, you're not meeting six random strangers off the internet — you're meeting six people who already passed through the exact same filter you did.

Professional Conduct Isn't a Suggestion

Every attendee agrees to a standard of professional conduct for the entire retreat. If someone doesn't hold to it, they're asked to leave. Not warned three times and quietly monitored — asked to leave. That's not a threat, it's a promise, and it's the actual reason the room stays safe enough to bare your writer's soul on the page and in the room.

What happens at the Createcation™ stays at the Createcation™ — which is why so very few images are taken during the four-day retreats. Privacy is my policy, and unless we all agree, it's never okay to share or repeat what we say or do here.

The Group Is Small on Purpose

Six writers. Not sixteen. You will know every name by dinner on day one, and you'll have had a real conversation with every person in the room by day two. Solo doesn't mean anonymous here. It means you showed up alone and went home with five people who read the messiest draft of your life and didn't flinch.

What This Isn't

This isn't a dating retreat, a friend-finding retreat, or a forced-vulnerability circle around a bonfire. Although friends and vulnerability do happen from time to time. Nobody's making you share your trauma if that's not what your book is about. It's a room full of people doing the same specific, terrifying thing you are: trying to actually finish a book. That shared obsession does more bonding than any icebreaker game ever could.

If You're Still Nervous

Ask me directly on your application call. I'll tell you what I can about who else is in the room — experience level, genre, general vibe — without breaking anyone's privacy. And if I don't think it's a fit for you, I'll tell you that too, honestly, before you book anything. I'd rather lose the booking than watch someone sit in the wrong room for four days.