A month ago I wrote about building my own writer’s retreat at the kitchen table, planned with Claude down to Monday’s 7:30am yoga and a Percy Pig tea break. I promised to report back. So here it is.
The short version: I enjoyed it. It wasn’t perfect, but the imperfect bits taught me the most.
What Worked
The structure did its job. With each day mapped out, I never lost the first hour deciding what to do with myself. I got up, rolled out the mat, and the day carried me along.
As for the writing, I came out of the week with something I didn’t expect: a full outline for a new novel. I wrote about a chapter too, but it was more brainstorming than a serious start, and a lot of it will probably be cut once I begin properly. As the week went on, I realised this was a novel, not a short story, so I dropped the short story sessions altogether and put everything into the novel instead. Since then I’ve used Claude to turn the outline into a writer’s diary, with tasks mapped across the next twelve months.
Where the Plan Met Real Life
Some videos didn’t fit their time slots, running well over or finishing early. So I moved a lot of the part two videos into the afternoons and treated the schedule as a starting point, not gospel. That’s when it clicked.
The yoga levels jumped around too. Different teachers meant “gentle movement” varied a lot from one morning to the next. And one session was legs-up-the-wall, which relies on having a free wall. I didn’t, so that one got swapped out.
The biggest miss was food. I’d put all my planning into the writing and not enough into meals, so I found myself nipping out every day. Each trip broke the spell a little. Always the fun of self-catering.
The Best Bit Was Human
The standout was the Brandon Sanderson lectures: clear, generous and full of things I’m already using. Claude found them, and I’m glad it did. But Sanderson made them. The value came from a person who has spent years teaching this craft and shares it for free. AI handled the searching and scaffolding. The substance was human.
Better Prompts, Better Retreat
Most of the wobbles came from what I didn’t ask. My prompts focused on the writing, so the practical side never got checked. Next time I’d ask things like:
- “List the prep I’ll need for each day, including meals and shopping.”
- “Check every video’s running time fits its slot, and suggest an alternative if not.”
- “I have no free wall. Keep the yoga suitable for my space and consistent in level.”
AI will only check what you ask it to check.
What I’d Change Next Time
- Do a proper food shop and batch cook before day one.
- Build flexible afternoon slots in from the start.
- Write the practical checks into the planning prompts.
Would I do it again? Yes, but it would look different. This one was about getting going again, so the tone was gentle: ease in, see what comes. Next time it would be built around progress on the novel itself, with firmer goals, more writing hours and less warming up. Still at the kitchen table, still with the Percy Pigs. Possibly with a logo this time. I did say I’d try and restrain myself.
