Writing in the company of other women: exceeding the boundaries

Abstract

In academic life, writing for publication is a significant responsibility. It can also be a rewarding private pleasure. This article reports on the effects of attending week‐long writing retreats for a group of academic women in Aotearoa New Zealand. The residential retreats have been held twice a year since 1997, and attract women from different institutions, disciplines and at different stages in their careers. Through examining data gathered by open‐ended questionnaires, the author explores the effects of attending the retreats on the participants’ academic writing productivity and pleasure, and on their sense of themselves as academics and writers.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the group of women who gave me feedback and encouragement over the questionnaire at the Spring Retreat 2002, and to the 31 who contributed data. Thanks also to all the women who have returned to the retreats over the years and along the way contributed to the shaping of them, and to those who discussed the draft article in June 2005. Lastly I would like to thank Avril Bell (for many bunk‐room conversations) and Christine Herzog (for many car‐trip conversations) about the dilemmas and tensions that are an inevitable aspect of the retreats.