I live in Spain, work in Spain and write in Spain so my first choice for a Writing Retreat is in the Spanish countryside of which there is plenty. A recent yearning for another writer’s holiday had me researching possibilities and so I’ve compiled a list of the courses I fancy attending, they are in alphabetical order and not the order I’d like to do them.
Casa Ana – runs several 10 or 13 day retreats a year – Casa Ana writing retreats
Write Away Europe – not doing courses in Spain at the moment
Write-it-Down – In Seville province with Elaine Kingett
Writing Retreats in Malaga province with novelist Rosanna Ley.
This one isn´t based in Spain but I am, so I´m including it. Travel writing course either in-person in London or like I am doing – online via Zoom, given by the very personable Peter Carty – Travel Writing Workshop.
This is also an online group/school for travel writing on Substack by James Durston which I have just joined – The Travel Writing Skool.
What is it about courses for writers that appeals to me?
I think the opportunity to get away from work, home, life, family for a short time is very important. It’s an opportunity – to just be. To be you or in some cases find yourself. You get moments when all you have to do is the writing exercise with no interruptions, no I must just do this…
Personally, for hands-on courses, I prefer all women groups, for online courses it makes no odds.
A meeting of new people and experiences which very often creates an atmosphere of trust meaning a new level of opening up and depth in your writing. Again it depends on the type of course or workshop you do.
The list above ranges from courses on journalling to planning and preparing a non-fiction book. The course I went on in Barcelona with Pink Pangea was a travel writers´ retreat, the range is as huge as are the genres of writing.
There is of course another option which for some people is far more preferable and that is to rent somewhere to be alone and write. Rent a writer’s retreat in the depths of Andalusia. This holiday home is no longer available for rent but the choice in inland Andalucia is huge.