By Michele D. Kegley, PhD

I had the opportunity to attend the Writing In Depth Retreat July 24-27, co-sponsored by TAA and hosted at Hope Springs Institute in Peebles, Ohio. As I was preparing to leave, I was talking to myself, “You packed your clothes, shoes, computer, writing journal, pens, phone, water bottle, what am I forgetting? Oh, my files are all in the cloud! I need to download my files onto my hard drive on my PC. I am going to a writing retreat, and they have warned us that there is limited internet access.”

I do not know about you, but I didn’t know how digitally dependent I was until my watch, mobile tablet, laptop, and phone couldn’t access the internet, and that limited access for four days was glorious. Don’t get me wrong. I love the ability to look up a word or concept while I am reading, whether it is for pleasure or research. The ability to learn what is happening in the world by clicking a news app on my phone or checking Find My iPhone to see how long before someone will arrive for dinner is very convenient. However, my style and method of writing have significantly shifted over time. I have evolved from writing ideas longhand on legal pads or journals to writing on my tablet or working in shared documents on my laptop and saving the documents to the cloud.

Michelle Rivera-Clonch, PhD, Psychologist, and Co-Founder of Writing In Depth, was our retreat facilitator, leading us through daily sessions to hone our writing and articulate our focus, audience, contribution, and the importance of the topic to us. In other words, why did we want to write about it? One session called Demystifying the Writing Process allowed us to reflect on what challenges and barriers might be getting in the way of successful writing practices. We worked alone and in groups to share our reflections and add a level of accountability to our process.

The flow of the retreat allowed for self-care, nourishment with incredibly delicious meals, morning writing workshops, morning and afternoon independent writing, with structured group check-in sessions to add a level of accountability for us, and evening fire circles for reflection. I chuckled when I first read the schedule with the meals listed as “Energizing Breakfast, Delicious Lunch, and Yummy Supper.” These were accurate, and the food was exceptional. Most of the attendees signed the waitlist for the cookbook so they could experience the recipes again at home.

Writing was our primary focus. After the morning workshops, our group of interdisciplinary academic writers dispersed to find comfortable locations, inside and outside, seeking inspiration. This is when the challenge began, if you needed access to the internet. SOS was at the top of my phone much of the time I was at the retreat. My weather app on my phone and watch inconsistently provided any information; my internet connection was rarely reliable enough to look up any current events. Distractions minimized, I was left with my journal, a pen, my thoughts, and the files I had downloaded before I left for the retreat. I created the following process to write and support my retreat success:

Step 1) Review session notes and my journal. I had been keeping notes on my ideas for the last five years in this journal, and wow, I had ideas!

Step 2) Plan my focus and goals for the retreat. The retreat was a last-minute decision to attend. I have been in what I call writing recovery after a major project this last year, so I did not have a clear focus for a writing project.

Step 3) Outline plan based on notes and ideas, revise, cut out, and get realistic.

Step 4) Revise the plan each night after reviewing the day’s notes and progress.

Step 5) Grant myself grace. When others shared their ideas, I was a cheerleader for their efforts, but I tend to beat myself up and think I never get enough done. The support I give others, I needed to give myself. Without all the other digital distractions, I became more able to practice real self-care and reflection.

Step 6) Celebrate achievements. I did not finish my article at the retreat. I focused on an idea, developed an outline, wrote an introduction, started a literature review (with files downloaded), worked on the framework, and did a lot of free writing of parts of the article that will be moved into appropriate places as the article progresses.

It was a retreat. It was not all nose to the grindstone work. The beautiful location is on Peach Mountain in Adams County, Ohio, near Serpent Mound, an effigy mound built by ancient American Indians. The area is both beautiful and peaceful. The natural beauty of Hope Springs Institute, the sounds of insects, warm summer sunshine, and lovely flowers allowed one to enjoy time decompressing. Writers could walk the trails and appreciate sacred spaces such as the Celtic Mother’s Circle, Peace Pole, and Labyrinth. Each evening, an evening fire circle was held in the Spirit studio, allowing writers to reflect on their writing differently. Time is something in short supply for many people; the opportunity to truly disconnect provided time for mindful application of scholarly skills, sometimes forgotten in this technologically advanced world. I came home feeling relaxed, rejuvenated, and ready to start a new academic year! I was well fed mentally, spiritually, and physically. I recommend finding space in our busy digital lives to disconnect digitally and reconnect with our scholarly writers we may have buried under our piles of technology.

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Michele D. Kegley, PhD, is a Professor of Business and Economics and Program Director of the Bachelor of Technical and Applied Studies at the University of Cincinnati, Blue Ash College. She is a 2025 McGuffey Longevity Award Winner and co-author of Understanding and Managing Diversity, 7th edition, Pearson. Her education includes a PhD in Leadership and Organizational Change, Antioch University; an MS in Social and Applied Economics, Wright State University; and a BA in Economics and English, Wilmington College. She is an editorial board member of the University of Cincinnati, Academy of Fellows for Teaching and Learning’s Journal for Research and Practice in College Teaching. Her awards include UC Blue Ash Outstanding Faculty Service and the University of Cincinnati Jack Twyman Award for Service Learning. She mentors, presents, and writes on multiple interdisciplinary areas, including leadership, socioeconomic stability, women’s promotion, service-learning, work-life balance, and online course design.