4 Priceless Writing Lessons I Learned On a $2000 Writing Retreat

Last year, I attended a writing retreat in Bali. It was everything an aspiring writer like me could dream of.

The retreat was held in the spiritual heart of Bali, Ubud. I spent a week living in an eco-compound, getting to know two dozen fellow writers. Getting to know the craft.

Nestled in lush tropical greenery and fueled by strong black Balinese coffee, I wrote my first poem, then my second. I also wrote a cheeky horror story about an evil Balinese groundskeeper.

Frankly, the experience blew my mind. It was pure magic. It gave me the confidence to label myself a “writer” and start writing publicly, right here on Medium.

It’s been 7 months since the retreat. 7 months to grow, to write, to think —getting locked down amidst a global pandemic certainly helps with the last two bits!

Since then, I have distilled 4 key takeaways from my stay in Bali.

If applied, these tips will fast-track your growth as a writer, as they did for me.

1. Surround yourself with good people

“Don’t make friends who are comfortable to be with. Make friends who will force you to lever yourself up.” – Thomas J. Watson

This is my biggest takeaway from the retreat.

What made the greatest difference in my writing ability wasn’t the technical tips I picked up, nor the writing seminars I attended. Great as they were, they weren’t game-changers.

No, what elevated my writing was being surrounded by fellow writers.

As Jim Rohn said,

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

This is doubly true if you seek an unconventional career in the arts.

In the retreat, I was surrounded by professional writers 24/7.

We ate breakfast together while discussing our favourite books between mouthfuls of buttered toast and strong coffee.

At night, we gather around a roaring blaze and crack open cold Bintangs. We get drunk on aspiration, on words, on each other. The pilsner goes down our throats easy and eloquence flows forth our lips, easy.

The cold light of long-dead stars crown our brows, and our faces are dancing shadows, wreathed with rapture and flame. We carry on the proud, nigh-lost tradition of our ancestors — telling stories by firelight.

The poets recite poetry. I drink too much. I recite Desiderata and butcher Oscar Wilde. Many laughs were had, and some tears were shed. And there, in the bowels of the night, over the orange banks of a dying flame, lifelong friendships were forged.

The great author Mark Twain wrote,

“Keep away from those who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you believe that you too can become great.”

The older I get, the more I understand the importance of curating your friends. We don’t rise to the level of our expectations, we sink to the depths of our surroundings.

It’s hard enough to succeed. You don’t need naysayers, false friends and grasping crabs dragging you down.

Surround yourself with positive, inspiring people. People who empower you.

“Writing is a lonely job. Having someone who believes in you makes a lot if difference. They don’t have to makes speeches. Just believing is usually enough.” ― Stephen King

Leave toxic “friends” behind. If you need help, I wrote my best-received article on that very subject.

The people around you matter much more than you think. Surround yourself with people who make you feel good, valued. These are the people who will take you to the next level.

The same goes for the environment you’re in.

2. Your environment matters

“It starts with this: put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down there to write, remind yourself why it isn’t in the middle of the room. Life isn’t a support system for art. It’s the other way around.” ― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

Picture this.

It’s a sunny afternoon. The sun is at its zenith, yet you are cool, well protected from the bright tropical rays in an open gazebo.

You sit cross-legged upon a comfortable cushion, surrounded by writers from all over the world. They have traveled from far-flung places, places like Denmark, England, and Finland — there’s even a young lady who graduated from Harvard. The writers write, and you write with them.

The air is concentrated in silence. Light, lilting yoga music drifts from unseen speakers, and all around you are the sounds of the village.

The soft bubbling of a nearby creek, the cheerful clucking of well-kept hens, the rhythmic scribble-pause-scribble of pencils on paper. Nature natures and writers write.

That was everyday life at the writing retreat. What an amazingly conducive environment, right?

Now picture this.

You are at home. And home is normally conducive, but this is an exception. This time, there are untimely visitors.

You want to write but your family wants to entertain. The majority wins. The dreaded television set is brought roaring to life. Real voices mingle with pre-recorded ones to form a cacophonous din and oh my god, is that a crying baby?

It is and for a couple of hours at least, your creative muse is dead, your writing day buried.

As writers, our job is to make our surroundings as conducive as possible for writing. Of course, not all of us have the luxury of writing in a picture-perfect setting. I get that.

That being said, what we can do is to make small changes to improve the quality of your environment.

Switch off your phone. Move your desk to a secluded corner instead of the wall-traveled living room. Play some suitable music, music that induces flow.

I personally write best to Binaural Beats, Pink Floyd or otherwise orchestric, lyricless music, but you don’t have to copy me. Feel free to explore — Stephen King apparently writes to old school metal, which explains…..a lot.

Lastly, schedule a time to write. As Faulkner said,

“I only write when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes at nine every morning.”

Can I be blunt? If you feel like it’s too much trouble scheduling your life around your art, you’re not yet ready to be a professional.

Professional artists live to create. They schedule their lives around their work. They block out time for creativity. Amateurs think discipline is iron shackles.

Professionals know discipline is the skeleton upon which masterpieces are built. As Jocko Willink said, “discipline equals freedom.” This is one of the great paradoxes of life.

As you curate your friends, so must you trim your environment. Bit by bit, little by little, schedule your life around your art.

And take your writing to the next level.

3. Test out different writing styles

“Good painting is the kind that looks like sculpture.”— Michelangelo

6 seasoned writers were invited to the retreat to serve as mentors.

Their backgrounds were diverse, ranging from two novelists, a Hollywood screenwriter, a freelance journalist, a poet, and a copywriter. Personally, I was most excited about novelists.

At that time, fiction was all I read, all I cared about. You see, I didn’t just want to write a book, I wanted to write The Book — The Great Singaporean Novel.

I had no experience with screenplays aside from a short-lived acting career. Poetry bored me, I thought journalists were washed-up old men, and I had no idea what the hell copywriting was.

Imagine my surprise when I absolutely loved the poetry and screenplay seminars!

Don’t get me wrong, the teachers were unanimously great. I just found myself especially drawn to the lyrical sing-song prose of poetry, the necessarily Laconian verse of screenwriting.

Instead of being crippled by ‘option paralysis’ like I thought I would, being exposed to different writing styles only served to broaden my skill set.

As Maslov said,

“When all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail.”

If you only know one way to write, you are akin to a painter with only one type of brush. This severely limits your capacity as an artist.

Understand that the dogged pursuit of a singular style might not be the best way to grow. Sometimes, the combination of two or more styles leads to unexpected and beautiful results. Like Musashi wrote in his Book of Five Rings,

“There are not more than five primary colors, yet in combination they produce more hues than can ever been seen. There are not more than five cardinal tastes , yet combinations of them yield more flavors than can ever be tasted.”

“There is more than one way to the top of the mountain.”

So explore! Combine. Taste the rainbow.

Studying screenplay taught me to write realistic character conversations, writing poetry taught me the subtleties of cadence and flow — both of which added to my capabilities as a fiction writer!

Don’t just take my word for it, plenty of great artists in history were multi-hyphenates.

The afore-mentioned Musashi was an unparalleled samurai, an author of the seminal Book of Five Rings, and also a master water painter and swordsmith. Michaelangelo was a painter, sculptor, and architect of the highest order. And the American laureate of lowlife, Charles Bukowski, wrote poetry, novels, and screenplays with equal uncouth candor.

Be a Renaissance writer. Try out different writing styles. The various aspects of the craft add to each other, bleed together to form a delicious blend. Like Joseph Campbell wrote,

“Truth is one, the sages speak of it by many names.”

Don’t be deceived by fancy labels, and the myriad of different names we attribute to things. Writing is writing. Learn it, all of it.

4. Invest in your craft

“If a man empties his purse into his head no one can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.” — Benjamin Franklin

In this interview, Conor McGregor reveals how humbled he was when he realized just how much Lebron James spends to keep his body in tip-top shape.

1.5 million, annually!

“I spent zero,” Conor confessed.

True craft masters all have one thing in common: they’re not afraid to invest in themselves.

Elite athletes routinely shell out big bucks to hire top coaches. Successful entrepreneurs seek out mentors like sharks seek out chum. And the best armies in the world splash out billions on state-of-the-art weapons, the latest technology — all in a bid to grow, evolve, be one step ahead.

To be the best writer you can be, you have to do the same.

$2000+ was a big sum for me at the time — as a matter of fact, it still is!

My then-girlfriend was surprised when I signed up for, but I knew it was a great opportunity to mingle with fellow writers, make friends, and immerse myself in the craft.

To this day, that $2000 is the best investment I’ve made.

People are always in search of the latest stock, cryptocurrency, or hot fad to invest in.

Billionaire investor Warren Buffet said in an interview with Forbes that,

“Ultimately, there’s one investment that supersedes all others: Invest in yourself.”

An investment in yourself is one that reaps the most compounded interest. It can’t be taxed, can’t be beaten, and can’t be taken away.

Conor now has a newfound approach to his craft.

He followed in the footsteps of Lebron James and invested heavily in every aspect of his training.

“If you’re in a game you need to be all-in with it.”

The result? Conor rebounded from back to back losses and knocked his next opponent out in 40 seconds, proving many detractors wrong in the process — including me.

Why should the craft of writing be any different?

Dedicate yourself to your writing like a professional athlete dedicates himself to his sport. Go all-in. Seek growth, welcome change, and continually evolve like it’s your job — because as an artist, it is!

So don’t be afraid to invest money and time in your growth as a writer. Like the best investments, you need to be patient before you can see the fruits of your labor. 4–6 years is a good timeline.

Don’t shortchange yourself or your craft! Invest in yourself, you are the best asset you have. Invest in yourself, it is the gift that keeps on giving.

Invest in yourself — and take your first step towards mastery.

See you at the top.

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