The Birmingham Botanical Gardens (or Any Outdoor Space!) Solo Writing Retreat
It's time for more Solo Writing Retreat suggestions, tips, and resources you won't find in a dozen other places. Thanks for joining us here!
Our primary hope is that you will use our Solo Writing Retreat guides to create the best Solo Writing Retreat for you. This Birmingham Botanical Gardens Solo Writing Retreat guide is one of our hyper-local guides that's also great for people who don't live near the Birmingham area. All of our resources are guides anyway. So, use what's helpful, leave what's not, and tweak everything to suit your current needs.
The Birmingham Botanical Gardens Solo Writing Retreat is honestly one of my favorites. This place holds many lovely memories from my 28+ years here in Birmingham.
During my senior year of college, I lived in an apartment across the street and took walks there often when I had no idea who I was or what I was doing. A couple of years ago, my family lived in another apartment across the street for about eight months when we were in-between houses (well, in between condos). I knew who I was and what I was doing at that time. Mostly.
My husband and I had our rehearsal dinner there on May 1, 1998.
I spent countless hours wandering with my kids.
Good walks and great talks with a dear friend whom I don't see much anymore.
The bench where I sat during a critical phone conversation with my friend Lauren Winner.
One of my favorite trees—a big old weeping willow.
The Dreamer sculpture!
The Last Dance sculpture!
The library!
Picking up my CSA shares!
Why Should You Have a Birmingham Botanical Gardens Solo Writing Retreat?
You should have a Birmingham Botanical Gardens Solo Writing Retreat to create your own memories. Go once a week, once a month, once a season. Whenever. With every visit, no matter how often you go, you will always see at least one thing you've never noticed.
It's beautiful, for real. There are several different types of gardens and areas to explore. Learn more details on their website at bbgardens.org.
Studies show being outside in nature will help you feel less alone. (I wrote about this in my first book, The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other.)
You can use the BBG Library for your retreat's reading, writing, and sitting and thinking portions.
You can also use your car for the reading, writing, and sitting and thinking portions of your retreat with our I Love to Write in My Car Solo Writing Retreat.
You can go by Church Street Coffee & Books before or after your retreat to pick up a delicious beverage, a famous Breakup Cookie, and a new book. It's only a few minutes away by car.
More Reasons to Have a Solo Writing Retreat Outside
Inspiration Abounds: Nature has a way of sparking our imagination and igniting our creativity. The sights, sounds, and scents of the outdoors can inspire fresh ideas, unique perspectives, and a sense of wonder. Surrounding yourself with natural beauty can help you move past creative resistance and find new sources of inspiration for your writing.
Unplug and Reconnect: Writing retreats in outdoor settings allow you to disconnect from the digital world and reconnect with your inner self. The tranquility of nature offers a respite from distractions, allowing you to dive deep into your thoughts, emotions, and creative flow. It's a chance to tune in to your inner voice, soul, and heart.
Fresh Air, Fresh Perspective: Stepping outside and breathing in the fresh air can do wonders for your mind and body. It revitalizes your senses and clears away mental clutter. Writing in an outdoor setting gives you a change of scenery, helping you gain a fresh perspective on your writing projects. The open space and natural surroundings offer a sense of freedom and expansiveness that can enhance your creative process.
Peaceful Solitude: Solo writing retreats in nature provide a calm and solitary space for introspection and deep work. Away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, you can fully immerse yourself in your writing without interruptions. The tranquility of the outdoors allows for a more focused and uninterrupted writing experience, enabling you to dive deeper into your ideas and express yourself authentically.
Connection with Nature: Writing is a deeply human endeavor, and connecting with nature can remind us of our place in the more extensive web of life. Being surrounded by trees, flowers, a babbling brook, or other outdoorsy elements can help ground you, bring a sense of calm, and foster a deeper connection to the world around you. Nature can be a source of solace, inspiration, and even metaphorical richness for your writing.
How Do You Have a Birmingham Botanical Gardens Solo Writing Retreat?
You can have your Birmingham Botanical Gardens Solo Writing Retreat however you prefer. Since all of life is the writing life, there are no wrong answers! You know what you need for this particular retreat more than anyone else knows what you need. But I've included a few notes based on how I have my Birmingham Botanical Gardens Solo Writing Retreats below.
Everything can be modified for any lovely outdoor space. And if you want more guidance, ideas, and retreat itineraries, our SDW Birmingham Botanical Gardens Writing Retreat Guides are an excellent resource. (See the note at the bottom of this post for everything included!)
Plan
Pick a date, a time, and a place. If you want to have your retreat at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens, visit their website at bbgardens.org for their hours and additional information. Consider eating lunch at the BBG cafe during your retreat. The food is pretty good, and it's super convenient.
Do you want to use a portable camping chair like this one? (I have a couple of those chairs, but I think I paid about half that?) Any easy-to-carry chair will do. Or skip the chair!
I'm a fan of the Four-Hour Solo Writing Retreat, which usually works well for most of my Solo Writing Retreats. It's best to be alone for your Solo Writing Retreat, but if solitude is not an option, take headphones or earbuds and ask your companion(s) to let you have your retreat without interruptions.
I like to make a plan for how I'm going to use each hour of my Solo Writing Retreats. I include different nourishing rhythms to help me have the writing retreat I need on that day. You may choose to do different nourishing rhythms during your retreat, but what I've included below will be helpful and spark some ideas.
Also: Every Solo Writing Retreat is better with Magic Mind. Learn why I love to take Magic Mind to my writing retreats and get 20% off here.
Read
Reading is always a good thing to do during a Solo Writing Retreat. You can read anything during your Birmingham Botanical Gardens Solo Writing Retreat. If you're in the middle of writing a work-in-progress, you can read something related. You can also read something fun that has no apparent connection to anything you're writing or want to write. And you can flip through some of the gardening and outdoorsy books and magazines available at the BBG branch of the Birmingham Public Library. You can also include a trip to a bookstore, a library, or a Little Free Library in your retreat plan and see what happens.
You can also read this gorgeous poem by our friend, Alabama State Poet Laureate, and Birmingham native Ashley M. Jones.
Write
Writing is also a great thing to do during a Solo Writing Retreat. You can write whatever you want during your Birmingham Botanical Gardens Solo Writing Retreat.
If you need or want more guidance with retreat plans and prompts for writing (and prompts for reading, moving your body, contemplative practices, and taking notes), consider becoming a SDW Member, which will give you access to all SDW Solo Writing Retreat Guides and Resources, including the Birmingham Botanical Gardens Solo Writing Retreat Guides.
Move
You can move however you want during your Birmingham Botanical Gardens Solo Writing Retreat, but I recommend at least a few minutes of physical activity every hour or so. Sometimes it's easy to forget about our bodies while we're writing. Don't forget about your body! I like to walk for at least 10 minutes at the beginning of my Four-Hour Solo Writing Retreats.
Be Open to Beauty
You can be open to beauty however you prefer during your Birmingham Botanical Gardens Solo Writing Retreat. Try to find a few things you've never seen before. Or sit with one tree, plant, or flower for 15 minutes and do a visio divina session. Here are some instructions for visio divina with art that you can adapt to use in nature.
I love to over-plan and under-use my retreat plans for all of my Solo Writing Retreats, so plan for four whole hours (or whatever duration you're planning!), and if you don't get to everything you'll have a head start for your next Solo Writing Retreat.
Reflect
I encourage you to journal for a few minutes at the end of your retreat and subsequent days. How will you tweak your retreat next time? What else do you want to incorporate? What do you want to skip? What do you wish you had brought with you? What did you think you needed but didn't use?
I hope you enjoy your Birmingham Botanical Gardens Solo Writing Retreat. Let me know how it goes!
Below are some photos from a couple of recent Birmingham Botanical Gardens Solo Writing Retreats.
Your Turn: What ideas do you have for a Birmingham Botanical Gardens Solo Writing Retreat?
I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas in the comments below!
Charlotte Donlon helps her readers and clients notice how they belong to themselves, others, God, and the world. Charlotte is a writer, a spiritual director for writers, and the founder of Spiritual Direction for Writers™. Her essays have appeared in The Washington Post, The Curator, The Christian Century, Christianity Today, Catapult, The Millions, Mockingbird, and elsewhere. Her first book is The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other. She’s currently writing her next book, Spiritual Direction for Writers, which will be published by Eerdmans in 2024.