In preparation for this weekend’s Creative Abundance Writing Retreat (more about that shortly!), I decided to make my plan ahead of time, so I’d have an example to show the group.

Making My Creative Abundance Writing Plan

The assignment I gave myself:

• 

  Answer prompts about the writing, other creative and self-care projects and routines I want to work on this year.

• Fill out a sample of how I’ll spend my time weekly (what activities and which projects when). (Creative Abundance Planning Sheet 1)
• Fill out a draft calendar with designated phases of each project and ongoing activities for each month of the year. (Creative Abundance Planning Sheet 2)
• Create a beautiful Creative Abundance 2026 plan using the draft calendar on a large square of colored posterboard and decorate with stickers, paints, markers, etc.

 As I worked on my weekly and yearly Creative Abundance Planning sheets based on the exercise we’ll be sharing at the retreat, I was surprised by how much enjoyment it brought!

Working on the plan showed me exactly what I needed to change in my routines.  Based on the insights and resultant plan, I immediately changed my sleep schedule and morning routine, discovering a way to make time for journaling/writing before my qigong morning group practice, 7 – 8:15 am. As a night owl, this was a huge shift. The plan made it easy!

The Writing Plan Works!

I put the new plan into practice last night and this morning, and it worked like magic:  I enjoyed a great night’s sleep. This morning, I received insights and clarity on a revision that had stumped me for months. As a result of early morning writing, I found the missing lines for the most challenging and vulnerable poem in my upcoming poetry book. And I entered the Zoom call for qigong practice on time at 7, an incredibly supportive foundation to my daily energy and creativity. Imagine what the Creative Abundance Plan exercise will do for your Creative and Abundant 2026!

I’m going to post tomorrow (Friday) and go to bed now, before the clock strikes 9:30!

(I’ll write more tomorrow – gotta stick to the plan!)

Next Day (Friday): Creative Abundance Plan in Action

So, not sure I told you, but with this crazy storm pending, Robin Kall and I had to re-jigger the entire retreat. A lesson in flexibility for sure! We are giving our participants an extra full day at no extra charge!

Our intention was to find a way to support our writers in creating their plans in January, so they could use them throughout the year. We managed to create an experience for those free to travel to join us Saturday (Friday night (tonight) optional. Our focus will be on setting intentions for the year and creating our plans, with additional fun and juicy prompts and practices to inspire our plans and themes.

Plus, prompts and discussion help everyone experience breakthroughs in any areas necessary to put their plans into action.

Our fearless collaborators are still on for the retreat, and Tejal Tarro will be reading an especially apt poem called “Releasing Expectations” from her new book of poetry, Illusions of this World.  How perfect is that? And she’ll need us to prompt a dialogue between our inner critic and our Inner Leader. Robin will be interviewing our friend—and former retreat participant—debut author Stephanie Burns about her journey writing and publishing Far From the A-List. (I could not put that book down—LOVED!)

How We’re Making the Retreat Accessible to Our Participants Despite the Storm

For those who cannot make Saturday, as well as those who can join us Saturday and also want to join us Sunday, 1-3, we are offering a 2-hour workshop on creating a Creative Abundance Writing Plan for 2026.  (Hence, my need to have my own plan ready to show as an example!).

There’s a Spot for You to Join Us in March!

We also, somehow, incredibly, managed to find a weekend in March when almost everyone can join us (March 14 and 15). As a result, we will probably have 3 spots open for anyone new who wants to join us on March 14 and 15. If you wanted to join but couldn’t make the January dates, here’s your chance. We expect those spots to go fast, so if you are interested, sign up ASAP at the registration page, which has not yet been updated. As long as you can come on March 14 and 15, signing up on the form now will hold your spot, even though we have not updated the page with new dates yet! If you sign up before Sunday, you can also join us for the Zoom call 1-3 ET (optional), and I will send you materials for that! A fun thing to do on a snowy day, should you be in the huge swath of the US that is expected to get the storm! Questions? Email me.

It’s time to finish what I can of my Plan for show-and-tell.  (or snow and tell?)

Before I do, I invite you to consider–and share in the comments–what routines you need to shift to make 2026 the creatively abundant year you dream of! And what are your intentions this year?