In this week’s blog, guest author Eneida García Villanueva shares her reflections on organising and running a series of online writing retreats, and the surprising power of music to help you find your writing groove.  

Winter in Scotland can be a lonely and isolating experience. Doing a PhD can also be a lonely and isolating experience. When the two combine, your productivity, energy, and mental health can suffer.  

Together with Verónica Márquez Moreno, a PhD student of Hispanic Culture at the University of Edinburgh, I wanted to do something to support my fellow students and provide an informal, welcoming space where we could work in the same space, virtual or otherwise. And so, Writing Retreat with a Beat 🎵🎶 was reignited. 

Originally created in May 2021 with the support of the University of Glasgow College of Arts and Humanities, Writing Retreat with a Beat came back for 2024. This time with funding from the SGSAH Modern Languages Discipline+ Catalyst, we welcomed doctoral students from six different HEIs across Scotland to our sessions, all held between January and April. 

Why Write in a Virtual Space? 

Verónica and I wanted to support every writer’s individual focus whilst still providing structure for writing in a safe atmosphere. Having attended several online and in-person writing retreats with academics and commercial writers, it was very important to us that all the sessions were free of cost so as to not impose a financial burden on the students who joined us. 

Making sure that fellow writers could stay focused in the potentially distracting setting of a busy group call was a key concern of ours when we were planning the sessions. Our solution was to keep videos on but microphones off during the writing sessions. This way, we could share in the virtual space together, but avoid distracting each other with any background noise or notifications. 

In addition to the benefits of accountability and increased motivation, the retreat introduced music as a refreshing twist on the standard virtual retreat model. Writers could choose to play their playlist locally, listen to the audios shared, or mute their system entirely if they preferred to work in silence.  

While the retreat was not a social space, a taught writing workshop or a research discussion group, we shared our writing goals and any challenges we were facing, and then debriefed on the writing experience at the end of an intensive two-hour writing session.  

Words of Encouragement 

We were thrilled to hear from our participants that they felt like the sessions had a real positive impact and beneficial results: 

It has become a nice way to not feel like I’m working alone and keep me accountable. Learning about other people’s research and ways they manage and organise themselves has been very helpful for my own workflow. — Gabriela Domené López, School of Language, Literature, Music and Visual Culture, University of Aberdeen 

With a strong focus on individual output…  

I have found the sessions very useful. It’s great to have a set time to meet with other students, feel a sense of community and just focus on writing. I’ve managed to get a good amount of focussed writing time and decent amounts of writing output done in each session. — Rebecca Madlener, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig / The University of the Highlands and Islands 

… and supported by peers… 

I’ve found them very useful! They help me create clear goals and focus on my writing, usually enhanced by the peer pressure of being with other people, but also keeping my comfort levels up by being at home. I think a break in the middle could be nice to remember people if they like to, to stretch, go to the toilet, etc. — Misha C. Gramelius, School of Modern Languages and Cultures 

…Writing Retreat With A Beat proved to be a safe virtual and academic space.  

[The session was] definitely helpful for accountability, time management, community and collegiality; it’s also good to just block out the time on your calendar. I really enjoy them – perhaps a more set time/day would help get into a routine of attending (I get this isn’t perhaps possible!) Eneida is great at leading these sessions, super friendly and very encouraging – always helpful as she encourages us to be kind and gentle with ourselves. — Rachel Eager, School of Modern Languages and Cultures, University of Glasgow 

We are grateful to SGSAH for funding the activity and are looking forward to organising additional retreats (virtual, in-person, hybrid-mode all-day) in the near future. Watch this space! 

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