Mami Needs to Write! Results of My First Post-Baby DIY Writing & Strategic Planning Retreat (Part 2/3)

Part 2/3:
More Inspiration & Retreat Results

This post is the second in a three-part series. In case you missed it, here is Part One and here is Part Three. 

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​My DIY Writing & Strategic Planning Retreat was great success!

More on that in a moment, but first I want to share a little bit more about what inspired me to not only write but also strategic plan during this retreat.

In last week's post, I described the ways in which previous writing retreats I've attended and the retreats featured in Poets & Writers inspired my desire to create my own writing retreat.

At the same time, I knew I wanted to do more than write and revise.

I wanted to plan. I needed to plan.

This nerdy excitement over planning surprises no one who knew me in college.

Back then, I'd spend a whole day at the start of the semester meticulously transferring my assignments from syllabi into planner, using intricate color-coded systems.

I loved planning then. I love planning now.

That love only deepened at my first job after college at The Steppingstone Foundation, an education non-profit in Boston. At Steppingstone, I not only worked with some of the most amazing students and families, I also learned the ins and outs of strategic planning.

Calendar planning in particular was at the heart of managing the work flows for our complex teams and their overlapping projects. And, it's important to note, we did ALL this planning before fancy electronic calendar apps--five years before the first iPhone was even released to be exact.

I’ll never forget those big paper calendars covered in a rainbow of stickies (heaven!). 

That is all to say, my long-term planning impulse is deeply engrained.

(Side note: I'm pretty sure my planning habit helped me "speed" through my PhD program (first one to graduate in my class--only 9(!) years after starting the MA. I concede that 9 years is "speedy" only in Academia)).

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​While I've always been a planner, planning at this particular juncture became important to me after I read two books.

The first one was You are a Badass at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Wealth by Jen Sincero. This was the March book for a cyber book club my cousin, her friend, and I had started in January. One of the lessons Sincero instilled in me was getting very clear on my compelling "Whys" of making money.

I came up with three main Whys:

1. To invest in myself and in my creative endeavors.
   
   
2. To help support our family and contribute to our family's wealth.
   
   
3. To invest in the world through charitable giving with a focus on organizations that support: Creativity & Cultura & Comunidad.

After getting clear on the fact that I was ready to make money again. It was time to get clear on the how. I started listening to podcasts. Including The Creative Penn, hosted by indie author Joanna Penn.

​In April Penn interviewed Jane Friedman about her new book, The Business of Being a Writer. I ordered it right after listening and it inspired me to think more strategically about my writing career.

In the book, Friedman notes:
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Friedman's right, it is a luxury to focus exclusively on craft. To think only of my art and not of my living. And so I began the complicated process of thinking about the ways I can earn money -- through writing and/or other means -- in order to help support the freedom I need in order to continue creating.

Carrying all those thoughts and ideas in my head was exciting, but also exhausting. Investing in a night away in order to organize all the long term big ideas, while also pinning down the next six months was critical.

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And so I booked that room and got to work!

​I gifted myself much needed dedicated time to think, and plan, and write.

I worked out, made solid progress on my two main areas of focus (editorial calendar & grant application), organized my pile of scattered ideas, learned to use new tools, and built a great foundation for a productive summer and fall.

Of course—even though I worked for hours straight—I would have loved even more time to get even more done, particularly when it comes to the financial planning side. But all in all I have no complaints.

I'm especially grateful for a partner who is so supportive of my ambition and is such an amazing parent to our munchkin.

Below are a few highlights.

Next week I’ll share some tips on designing and executing your own successful DIY Writing &/or Strategic Planning Retreat!

Retreat Resulsts

Schedule

​You can check out my proposed schedule here.

I’m happy to report I pretty much stayed on schedule and on task except for working through the early dinner time (I ate closer to 9pm) and working until midnight (I fell back into my old night owl habits quite quickly).

I was also able to space out pumping more than I original planned which was great because #ikindahatepumping

The time I allotted to financial planning was woefully short and it’s one aspect I'd like to make some more time for in the fall in order to go a little deeper.

Working towards specific concrete outcomes — editorial calendar & grant application — definitely helped keep me focused even as I was tempted to work on a million other things as they popped up

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Creative

​- Outlined Project Goals through December 2019

- Created Editorial Calendar: Blog & Writing Projects from June 2018 - January 2019

- Organized Evernote with the Blog Calendar and Random Ideas List, so I can work on the go.

- Drafted 2 blog posts & organized a 5 part series for August

- Created a Photo-Journal of my Retreat on Instagram & Facebook Stories

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Grant Application

- Sustainable Arts Foundation: First draft of the Portfolio completed (I actually got to revise some poems during the retreat, mi gente! Yay!)

- Sustainable Arts Foundation: Started the Artistic Information section (wish I had gotten more of this done, but will have to come back to it agin throughout the summer).

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Financial

- Outlined Goals / Strategies / Tasks for Financial Goals through December 2019

​- Played around with Wave accounting software 

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Treats

​- 90 minute Yoga Class
- wine
- hot tea 
- water front view at dinner & breakfast
- slept for hours straight without a visit from my nursling

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Inspired yet?
​Join me in the Comments:

​Hope this series of posts inspires you to think strategically about your life and career!

Any other planners out there? How has time spent planning worked out for you?

​Any planning-phobics? What do you do in lieu of planning to keep your life in order?

Have a great week and keep an eye out for next week's post on Tips for planning your own retreat.

Thanks for reading!

- Li Yun

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Before You Go...

Read Part 3: Mami Needs to Write: 10 Tips for Creating Your Own Writing & Strategic Planning Retreat.

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