CLARE FLYNN

People sometimes ask me why I enjoy writing retreats. Surely you can write just as easily at home, or in a library or coffee shop? Isn’t it an unnecessary indulgence to travel somewhere else simply to sit with your imagination and put words on a page? Perhaps it is. But in my experience, a change of place can open creative floodgates that had previously been firmly closed. I’m writing this beside a palm‑fringed beach in Sri Lanka. I’ve been working all morning. On palm‑fringe