Composed at Home is a transformative writing retreat for any scholar who wants a simple, effective process for overcoming emotional writing blocks. So you can make meaningful, measurable progress.

​Every single time you write.
The Composed Writing Retreat is now available online--so you can bust through your writing blocks from the safety and comfort of your own home.

During this week-long, virtual writing retreat you'll learn how to overcome your internal writing barriers--the thoughts and feelings that undermine your productivity, steal your peace of mind, and rob you of the pleasures of your work.

Whether pandemic life is wreaking havoc on your writing, or you've long been searching for a strategy for moving past writing blocks, Composed at Home will give you a systematic way through distraction and distress. So you can make real progress. And actually feel good about it.

​"Composed is a tremendous opportunity to break through your writing anxiety and find pleasure in your writing. Composed will give you tools you didn't even know you needed and an amazing community"
​
Kristin Searle, Assistant Professor 
Utah State ​University​

Composed at Home is for You if:

  • You wish you could just sit down and write – without getting overwhelmed by the work or paralyzed by self-doubt
  • You're worried about how slow your writing seems to be and wish you had concrete strategies for making real progress more quickly
  • You feel frustrated by how hard it is to carve out time for writing—which has only gotten harder since the pandemic began.
  • You find it hard to stay focused and work through distractions and difficulties.
  • You get tired of feeling that you and your work aren’t good enough.
  • You yearn to reconnect with the pleasures of research and writing – that excitement you felt when you first started grad school.
  • You wish you could find a community of scholars who support your healthy writing practice – instead of shaming or competing with you.

Sound like you?  Then here's what you'll get from Composed at Home.
​

By the end of the retreat, you'll be able to:
  • Get Clear: Finally understand what makes writing so damn hard (I promise, it ain't you).​​
  • Get Unstuck: Uncover your unique writing process, which will bust through your blocks and make writing easier, faster, and way more fun.
  • Focus In: Resist the rabbit holes that steal your attention and zero in on your writing, no matter what else is going on in your life or the world.
  • Relax Without Guilt: Work hard. Make progress. And then let the work go. So you can enjoy the rest of your life.​​
  • Know. Your. Worth. Actually feel good about yourself and your writing. Like you used to before academia happened to you.
  • ​Finally feel supported. And seen. And in sync with the world's most generous, encouraging writing community.​
  • Make Progress. Oh yeah. While you're learning all that? You'll make some serious progress on your manuscript.​​

"Composed is extremely flexible and adaptable to individual writers. It's the first writing program I've done that didn't make me feel inadequate. Composed is about sustainability, treating yourself as a precious and finite writing resource. It can help you develop a writing practice that you can continue."

Leah Lowe, Assistant Professor
​Vanderbilt University

How Does Composed Work?

InkWell's unique writing retreats weave together four key elements that do more than give you time to write: they teach you transferrable skills that make everyday writing more productive and pleasurable.
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  1. Protected Writing Time. We create an environment that's safe from distraction, disruption and external demand. We also teach you how to reproduce that protected space at home. 
  2. Evidence-Based Coaching. Writing workshops and group coaching sessions explain what really keeps you from writing and teach you best practices for overcoming your barriers. 
  3. Collective Reflection. Structured conversations with other retreaters--expertly facilitated so they are comfortable and generative--uncover what's holding you back and how to tailor best practices to move your writing forward.
  4. Deliberate Practice. When you're not in coaching sessions, you'll use the large blocks of writing time to implement new strategies, test insights, and clarify your process. All while making progress on your writing project.​​​

Composed at Home Daily Schedule*

Sunday
3:00 - 4:00 p.m. 
Welcome 
4:00 - 5:00 p.m. 
Orientation & Opening Workshop

​Monday - Friday
10:00 - 11:30 a.m.
Morning Writing Workshop
11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Write & Reflect
1:00 - 2:00 p.m.
Lunch on Your Own
2:00 -4:15  p.m.
Write & Reflect
4:15 - 5:00 p.m.
Spotlight Coaching
5:00 p.m.
Recovery
*Schedule is approximate and may vary slightly.
​All times above are Central Time.

How Well Does Composed Work?

Among 2020 Composed at Home participants:

95%

Strongly agreed they'd learned strategies that increased their productivity.

91%

Felt more motivated to write than they had prior to the retreat.

95%

Reported feeling calmer and more satisfed by writing than they had before Composed.

Who's the perfect fit for Composed?​


You, lovely. If:
  • You've been dreaming of attending Composed but couldn't be away from home for so long.
  • You're ready to look honestly at your writing struggles and face your emotional writing blocks.​
  • You're ready to change your approach to writing, whether to stop avoiding it or stop working yourself to the bone.
  • You just can't figure out how to make writing work with all the stress, strain, and change brought by the pandemic.
  • You're longing to reconnect with the excitement that brought you to the academy.
  • You are reflective, introspective and want to be more intentional about your writing practice.
  • You want the support that comes from the presence and encouragement of an amazing group of sister scholars and are willing to offer the same to others.
  • You're able to attend all sessions of the retreat and are happy to do so with your camera on.

Who should just...skip Composed?​

Anyone who feels like this:
  • You're pretty satisfied with your current approach to writing. You just need a place to write and aren't looking to learn with new techniques. 
  • You're in a serious crunch, need to push something out by the end of the week, and don't have the bandwidth to experiment with a sustainable approach to work. 
  • You just want to be left alone to write--you work best in near isolation or the anonymity that comes from a large, noninteractive group.
  • Feelings? Please. You can't stand that kind of talk, and have no desire to discuss your experience of work and writing with others.​

 "I made deep and meaningful changes to my relationship with my writing that I know I will carry with me. There are really no words for how differently my bodymind feels. I am aligned with my purpose and know what my writing is for, who it is for, how it's for me and how it will connect me to communities I care about.

When challenges come up as part of the process I can see them as part of the process instead of panicking or blaming myself. I can pivot and stay with it." 

H Rakes, Assistant Professor
​Oregon State University

The Composed Curriculum

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Sunday - Better Together

Our program begins in the late afternoon with our Virtual Cocktail Hour. Settle in and relax with your favorite drink while you get to know your sister retreaters. Then Michelle will review what's in store for you for the remainder of the week and answer all your burning questions. After orientation, you'll learn InkWell's signature Pivot Point framework for overcoming writing blocks, then set your intentions for the week.

Monday - Dive Right In

On this first full day of our retreat, you'll learn a foolproof strategy for knowing what to do in each writing session, even when you feel exhausted by life, or overwhelmed by your project. You'll be amazed at how easy it is to get started with this simple, effective technique. 

Tuesday - Put Writing First

Now that you know how to start your writing sessions, let's make sure you can actually show up for them. Today you'll learn an easier way to bypass distractions and put your writing first, even when you'd rather not. All without force or fear-tactics.

Wednesday -  Progress & Persist

Today we get to the heart of what keeps you from showing up, sticking with, and coming back to writing. You'll examine what these demons look like specifically for you. Then learn to overcome them with strategies that are emotionally sophisticated yet surprisingly practical.

Thursday - Finish Up Fierce

No more working yourself into the ground because nothing you do feels like it's enough. This workshop shows you how to cultivate that elusive sense of pride and satisfaction in your work. Get ready for the wonder of finishing up your writing and moving on to the rest of your life. Guilt-free.

Friday - Build a Writing Life

Don't think for a minute that you'll be back to business as usual after the retreat is over. On our last day, you'll learn how to translate this week's insights and transformations into daily actions in your regular writing life. And we'll cover the three essential ingredients to a productive, sustainable writing practice you can always count on. Plus a send-off you'll carry in your heart forever. 

Details About Your 5-Day Retreat
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  • What's Included
  • FAQs
  • Cancellation Policy
  • Your Facilitator
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​Composed at Home includes:
  • Virtual Happy Hour. Don't feel awkward, loves. You'll have an easy, fun way to get to know each other and set yourself up for success during the opening session of the retreat.
  • Five days of intensive writing training. Each day of the retreat you'll attend a morning writing workshop and an evening group coaching session. They include evidence-based trainings, interactive exercises that help you apply what you learned, Q&A, and small group discussions.
  • Five days of dedicated writing time. In between training meetings, you'll have hours and hours of writing time, so you can sink into your work and master the tools you've learned.
  • Resource lists, scripts, and worksheets to help you quickly remember the tools and techniques you learned at the retreat and easily implement them at home. 
  • Get-Ready minicourse: a week of brief, actionable guidance to address your pre-retreat questions and get your home set up as your personal retreat center.
  • Go-Home minicourse: filled with practices and reminders to help you quickly and easily integrate what you learned into your regular writing life.

Frequently Asked Questions (+Lovingly Offered Answers)


​(How)
(Who)

​(Pay)
I have more questions!
Well, we have more answers!
​Send an email to us hello@inkwellretreats.org and we'll do all we can to help.
The InkWell Cancellation Policy
​
Our policy is designed to let you change your mind without requiring Michelle to lose the opportunity to work with another scholar. Specifically: 

If InkWell cancels or postpones a retreat:
  • you may transfer your retreat payment to a future online or in-person retreat, or
  • you may receive a full refund to the original form of payment.

If you cancel your registration: 
  • 90 days or more prior to the start of the writing retreat, you receive: 100% credit for the cost of the retreat toward another writing retreat within 12 months.
  • 89-45 days prior to the start of the writing retreat, you receive: 50% credit of the cost of the retreat toward another writing retreat within 12 months, and will forfeit the remainder.
  • Fewer than 45 days prior to the start of the writing retreat, you receive: no refunds or credits.

To cancel your registration, please email us at hello@inkwellretreats.org. Your cancellation is complete when you receive a confirmation email.

Michelle Boyd, PhD

Michelle Boyd, PhD is an award-winning writer and scholar, and the founder of InkWell Academic Writing Retreats. She spent the first part of her career studying the political significance of black racial identity, and won a Best Book Award from the American Political Science Association for her first book Jim Crow Nostalgia: Reconstructing Race in Bronzeville. Since leaving faculty life, she's helped hundreds of scholars move past their anxieties, reconnect with their writing, and develop a calmer, more confident, more productive writing practice. Michelle is hard at work on her second book, ​Becoming the Writer You Already Are.



​"Composed helped me realize the importance of keeping my instrument well-tuned. A musician would never take a trumpet outside and bang it around a bit prior to a performance. Similarly, we as writers must protect our focus from outside influence and remain attuned to the holistic care we need prior to and during writing sessions." 
​
Nicole Morris Johnson
Assistant Professor
​University at Buffalo

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

Learn more about Michelle's approach to coaching.
Learn how you can get funding for Composed.
Hear what former Composed participants have to say.