The Faculty Writing Retreat gives you four days to work on a project in a supportive community of writers.

The Retreat Week

Each retreat day is structured around quiet morning and afternoon work sessions. The week begins with Finding a High Place, Enhancing the View, a guided workshop designed to help you set your goals for the week. We’ll also discuss staying focused, maintaining motivation and using time. The retreat closes with Staying Found, a workshop to help you review the previous week and plan your summer. Both sessions are led by Robert Danberg (Senior Instructor, Coordinator of Campus-Wide Writing Support, Binghamton University Writing Initiative).

A Community of Writers

The creation of a community writers is built into the retreat week. Each day starts and ends with a brief “Accountability Group” meeting based the model Paul Silvia describes in his book How To Write A Lot. Your group will help you prioritize tasks and maintain motivation. At the end of the first morning’s workshop, you’ll meet the members of your group and learn how to make a group work. For a more detailed description, please see Accountability Groups.

Workshops on Writing and the Publication Process

We will offer additional workshops, talks, and events during the retreat. You can choose to attend one of these events or work on your project.

Coaching

Throughout the week, Robert Danberg will be available for half hour meetings with retreat participants. You can use these meetings to set goals, talk through your project plan, or discuss writing strategies and resources.

The accountability group structure is adapted from Paul Silvia’s How to Write a Lot. During the retreat week, you’ll start and end each day with a group meeting.

At the end of the first morning’s workshop, we’ll discus how a group of this kind differs from writing groups that focus on reading pages or problem solving. You’ll be assigned a group. We’ll discuss ground rules for effective meetings.

Your group meetings will not be long. Fifteen to twenty minutes is generally enough, although the first meeting may take longer. You may decide to take more time (a half hour) for the meeting you hold at the end of a day.

Group meetings begin with each member describing their goals for the day, whether they met them, what might have gotten in the way, what worked, and plans for today or tomorrow.

Typically, the format for each speaker is:

My goals for __________  were __________. I did/did not meet them, if I did not meet them, it is because of __________ and __________. Some things that worked for me were_________. My goals for today/tomorrow are __________.

While problem solving is not the focus of a group meeting, group members often connect during the retreat day and after to share solutions and resources.

Tuesday, June 1, 2021

Morning session

9:00 am – 9:15 am: Meet and greet your fellow writers.

9:15 am – 11:45 am: Finding a High Place, Enhancing the View with Robert Danberg, Senior Instructor, Coordinator of Campus Wide Writing Support, The Binghamton University Writing Initiative

11:45 am – 12:15 pm: Meet your accountability group.  Review the group guidelines.

12:15 pm – 1:15 pm: Lunch break.

Afternoon Session

1:15 pm – 1:30 pm: Meet with group to set goals for the the afternoon. Check in on goals from morning.

1:30 pm – 4:00 pm: Write!

4:00 pm – 4:30 pm: Goal check-in with group.

Wednesday, June 2, 2021

Morning session

9:00 am – 9:15 am: Goal setting and reporting with your group. Set goals for the session. Check in on goals from yesterday.

9:30 am – 11:00 am:  Workshop TBD

11:00 am – 12:15 pm: Write!

(If not attending the workshop) 9:15 am – 12:15 pm: Write!

12:15 pm – 1:15 pm: Lunch break.

Afternoon Session

1:15 pm – 1:30 pm: Meet with group to set goals for the the afternoon. Check in on goals from morning.

1:30 pm – 4:00 pm: Write!

4:00 pm – 4:30 pm: Goal check-in with group.

Thursday, June 3, 2021

Morning session

9:00 am – 9:15 am: Goal setting and reporting with your group. Set goals for the session. Check in on goals from yesterday.

9:30 am – 11:00 am: Free Writing: Writing Practice, Practice Writing with Robert Danberg (Optional)

11:00 am – 12:15 pm: Write!

(If not attending the workshop) 9:15 am – 12:15 pm: Write!

12:15 pm – 1:15 pm: Lunch break.

Afternoon Session

1:15 pm – 1:30 pm: Meet with group to set goals for the the afternoon. Check in on goals from morning.

1:30 pm – 4:00 pm: Write!

4:15 pm – 4:30 pm: Goal check-in with group.

Friday, June 4, 2020

Morning session

9:00 am – 9:15 am: Goal setting and reporting with your group. Set goals for the session. Check in on goals from yesterday.

9:15 am – 12:15 pm: Write!

12:15 pm – 1:15 pm: Lunch break.

Afternoon Session

1:15 pm – 1:30 pm: Meet with group to check in on goals from morning.

1:30 pm – 3:00 pm: Write!

3:00 pm – 4:30 pm: Staying Found: Setting your Goals for Summer with Robert Danberg

Schedule subject to change.

Below you’ll find a list of books and resources that inform the Summer Faculty Writing Retreat and come recommended by writers.

Academic Writers and Writing Productivity

Professors as Writers — Robert Boice

How to Write a Lot — Paul Silvia

Air and Light and Time and Space: How Successful Academics Write — Helen Sword

Getting Things Done — David Allen

The Clockwork Muse — Eviatar Zerubavel

Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks — Wendy Lauren Belcher

Finishing School — Cary Tennis

Style/The Writer’s Art and Craft

Stylish Academic Writing — Helen Sword

The Writer’s Diet — Helen Sword

Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace — Joseph Williams

Several Short Sentences About Writing — Verlyn Klinkenborg

Economical Writing — Deirdre McCloskey

On Writing Well — William Zinnser

So, You Want to Write — Dorothea Brande

The Art of Memoir — Mary Kerr

Free Writing, Creativity, and the Writer’s Life

Writing Without Teachers — Peter Elbow

Writing With Power — Peter Elbow

Writing Down the Bones — Natalie Goldberg

The Artist’s Way — Julia Cameron

Art and Fear — David Bayles and Ted Orland

Fearless Creating: A Step-by-Step Guide To Starting and Completing Your Work of Art — Eric Maisel

Writer’s Memoir

Bird by Bird — Annie Lamott

On Writing — Stephen King

Draft No. 4 — John McPhee

Resource Site

The Writing Initiative maintains a site, Resources for Writers, where you’ll find articles, suggestions for practice, and links to other resources.

Please confirm your participation by emailing Robert Danberg at rdanberg@binghamton.edu.

Questions? Contact Robert Danberg at rdanberg@binghamton.edu