Three-minute writing challenge: Retreat
The last challenge before I take a two month hiatus. I supply the prompt. You supply the words: one sentence or paragraph. No overthinking. Wherever this sends you is the direction you need.
Cold ankles are the kryptonite of writing life. Thank goodness that this challenge is only three-minutes long, because lord help me if I have to write for longer whilst enduring these icicle feet. Friends who are experiencing British spring, don’t pack your fluffy socks away yet. If any group of people can justify woolly cardigans and fingerless gloves until summer sweats them off, it’s writers.
Last month, we spoke about Echoes. The writing submitted was so delicate, moving, and thoughtful. It inspired me to do my own thinking, of what the echoes of my previous writing is telling me to do.
Thus, I am about to enter hermit-mode. My own retreat, if you will. Except I’m not disappearing off to the Outer Hebrides, or to a French chateaux. I will be editing my novel in the room my baby daughter occupies at night, which we have termed the ‘noffice’. I’ve reached the stage of novel writing that I recognise from the three times I’ve done this before. I call it ‘total submersion’. It’s when I need to spend big chunks of time on the manuscript, systematically scraping out the loose threads and rewriting the story with a voracious reader in mind.
So, here I’ll be, retreating to my desk as much as I can, which sits next to a crib and in front of a single-pane window that leaches out the cold.
Now, onto the prompt!
A note: Ordinarily, the three-minute writing challenge is monthly, with the Library Shelf of Challenge Winners post revealed a week later. This is to allow time to best showcase entries and allows me to publish posts on writing, motherhood, and creative juggling in between, as is the ethos of Not A Write Off. The challenge will return in June.
💡 During my absence, I will be hosting a mini-workshop on Zoom at 20:00 GMT on Sunday 14th April. This live, 40 minute workshop on How to Outline your Novel has been voted on by paid subscribers. Tickets are £15 and can be purchased here. Paid subscribers will automatically be added to the guest list for free.
If you want to see what writers came up with last time, have a look at the Top Shelf entries from the last prompt, which was all about the theme: Echoes
New to the challenge? Here’s what to expect:
A three-minute writing prompt each month
Launched on a Wednesday (for that mid-week reset)
Submit one sentence up to one paragraph
Favourite entries will be pooled and published on Not A Write Off one week after the challenge is launched'
Outside of the challenge, I write regularly about my life as a three-times published author of contemporary fiction and how this fits around my other job; raising a one-year-old. I also write pragmatic, down-to-earth posts about writing craft and the publishing industry.
✍ If you want to write without an agenda, this is your cue to hit pause for three minutes.
If you stopped scrolling through Notes or your Instagram feed to read this, stay, for a little while longer. Previous participants have gone on to write whole posts, short stories, poems, or flash fiction after taking part in the challenge. Who knows where this will take you?
How to tackle the challenge:
Interpret the challenge however you like. There is no right or wrong. The prompt is there as a jumping off point, but go wild.
Entries can range from one sentence to one paragraph (not like… a Dickens paragraph)
To kick-start the challenge, set a three minute timer and stop when the bell goes off
I encourage you to write in the moment, without pulling from any previous work
Post your writing in Notes by restacking this post and tag so that I don’t miss it
Tag anyone whose words you would like to see. Non-fiction writers, poets, business owners, public speakers, I’m looking at you! Here, fiction is your friend.
This week’s prompt: Retreat
A retreat can be sought-after, planned for, and celebrated. Retreats can involve isolation, or solitude amongst other souls. They can be for a purpose; to write, to paint, to heal, to listen. They can be for no purpose at all other than to… stop for a while. A retreat might impulsive, an action; retreating from a conversation, situation, or voice that you’d rather not be around. A retreat is a wonderfully quiet act of power.
What does ‘retreat’ mean for you?
However you choose to interpret the prompt is true and correct for you. Don’t overthink it, just write.
Francine Sterle, Nymphs
If you hadn’t guessed, this theme of ‘retreat’ is my grandiose attempt to wave myself off into the corner of a room to finish the current edit of my book. I can’t wait to see what you’ve been working on whilst I’m away.
What next?
Subscription: You don’t need to be a subscriber to participate
Deadline: Tuesday 26th March
Sharing: I’ll amplify and re-post as many entries as I can, culminating in a monthly Library Shelf of Challenge Winners
Community: Writing doesn’t need to be lonely. Collaborating is fun. Share widely, comment on each other’s entries, and connect with other writers.
Need some music to accompany your writing?
I have spent four years building this playlist, which I honestly think *may* be the best accompaniment to your writing. No words, just gentle, instrumental, ethereal notes.
If you’d like to be notified when these challenges go live, subscribe to Not a Write Off
About the author:
Abigail Mann is an author, book coach, and writing mentor. She is currently writing her fourth novel for HarperCollins and has a thing for sharp contemporary literature with a comic edge. Abigail coaches with the London Writer’s Salon and privately mentors writers who need to cloud bust their plots, clean up their submissions, or reach a fiction milestone. Her other internet home is here.
RETREAT
Settling in to quiet
Enjoying the embrace of solitude
Pen and notebook poised