In the Fall of 2009, I decided to host a writing retreat for members of the HCAT lab. The idea of hosting a writing retreat was triggered by Kim Witte's webpage. On that page, Kim notes that her lab once wrote two papers during a writing retreat at Gull Lake. Inspired by their success, HCAT lab decided that we needed to get in the business of writing retreats.
Our first writing retreat was held November 20 - 22nd, 2009 at a little cabin in Northwest Indiana (you can rent it here). The owners referred to it as a "cozy cabin" and we quickly started referring to this as the "cozy cabin writing retreat." Five people attended the first writing retreat: Andy King, Nick Carcioppolo, Lisa Guntzviller, LaShara Davis, and Jakob Jensen. Everyone had to write a rough draft of their results section in advance (as data analysis alone can easily consume several days). Given that, the goal was to write rough drafts of intros, literature reviews, methods, and results. We started working the moment we arrived, and often worked late into each night. The cozy cabin writing retreat produced three publications (and two more articles that are under review):
Jensen, J. D., King, A. J., & Carcioppolo, N. (2013). Driving toward a goal and the goal-gradient hypothesis: The impact of goal proximity on compliance rate, donation size, and fatigue. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 43, 1881-1895.
Carcioppolo, N.,* & Jensen, J. D. (2012). Perceived historical drinking norms and current drinking behavior: Using the theory of normative social behavior as a framework for assessment. Health Communication, 27, 766-775.
Guntzviller, L. M.,* Jensen, J. D., King, A. J., & Davis, L. A. (2011). The foreign language anxiety in medical office scale (FLAMOS): Developing and validating a measurement tool for Spanish-speaking individuals. Journal of Health Communication, 16, 849-869.
Needless to say, we deemed the cozy cabin writing retreat a success and vowed to hold another one in the future.
HCAT lab held another writing retreat October 11th - 14th, 2013 in Park City, UT. The writing retreat was held at a 5 bedroom cabin in Deer Valley that described itself as the Nordic House (you can rent it here). Eleven faculty and graduate students attended the retreat. I led a workshop on Lisrel and confirmatory factory analysis, Lisa Guntzviller led a workshop on bibliography software, and Rob Yale took us all out to dinner at the Blue Iguana (which would become a writing retreat tradition). We also discovered numerous quirks such as my love of high quality scrap paper and Kevin Coe's need to have lots of gum on hand while writing. Finally, Rob Yale impressed everyone (as he tends to) with an amazing suitcase.
We worked on 12 manuscripts during the writing retreat, 7 of which were finished by end. We played an excessive amount of shuffleboard.
You can see photos of the retreat here:
HCAT held ar writing retreat March 14th - 17th, 2014 in Dallas, TX. Twelve faculty and grads attended the retreat. I led a workshop on writing grants, and we also talked a lot about publishing strategies. My consumption of Mountain Dew during the retreat reached epic levels, I think I slept a total of 2 hours. An air hockey table provided us with quite a bit of fun. A pool also occupied our time.
Note: This was the first HCAT retreat with a logo:
You can see photos of the retreat here:
HCAT lab held another writing retreat October 16th - 19th, 2014 in Park City, UT. The writing retreat was held at a 5 bedroom cabin just off the old town roundabout (you can rent it here). Nick Carcioppolo led a workshop on Mplus, I led a workshop on validity in confirmatory factor analysis, and we worked on 15 manuscripts, 8 of which were completed by the end of the retreat. A pool table on the top floor of the house was our relaxation sport of choice. We also enjoyed trying to ride the house elevator, which was wonderfully inconsistent. Finally, we visited Olympic Park during this retreat, and that is quickly becoming a tradition.
You can see photos from the retreat here:
HCAT lab held another writing retreat October 16th - 19th, 2014 in Park City, UT. The writing retreat was held at a 5 bedroom cabin just off the old town roundabout (you can rent it here). Nick Carcioppolo led a workshop on Mplus, I led a workshop on validity in confirmatory factor analysis, and we worked on 15 manuscripts, 8 of which were completed by the end of the retreat. I gave up Mountain Dew prior to this retreat, so Rob Yale had to continue carrying the (Diet) Mountain Dew torch for the lab. Andy King brought a bird mask, and that dominated our photos. In a surprise move, Nick Carcioppolo arrived with a suitcase identical to Rob Yale's (see: Nordic House Writing Retreat)!
You can see photos from the retreat here: