Every once in a while it is nice to step out of the familiar and look for inspiration out in the world. This might mean grabbing your computer and finding a shady spot in the park, taking over a booth in a quiet restaurant, or taking off for a week (or more) on a writing adventure. Stepping away from the desk doesn’t have to cost a lot of money, but it does take some planning and knowledge of what you’re looking for.
If you have a free afternoon, or want to carve out a few hours of page time, heading into the outdoors is an option. I like to do “write-arounds” where I go to a summer garden or park and write for twenty minutes or so in a variety of locations. If the weather is nasty I look for places that have quiet inside spaces. Our local river center has a birding room that is often empty and a lovely place to observe and write.
Many writing groups also have group writing events. I’ve been to one in Renton, WA hosted by the Tipsy Typers that lasted about four hours, had snacks, activities, and a raffle. It was maybe $50 to cover costs, and it was well worth the drive. I made some new writing friends and won a gift certificate for an elevator talk session (it’s a thing).
For a few days of out of the house writing time, I look to State and National Parks. Many camping parks have yurts or small cabins with electricity for very reasonable rates, especially in the off season. Rental rooms and houses can also be incredibly affordable if you are a person on your own. I generally pair longer trips with research so that costs become tax deductible, and I have some built in writing breaks.
I have found some of my best research libraries in tiny town museums staffed by history enthusiasts with loads of time on their hands.
Maybe you want to stay somewhere for weeks to months. Look into writing residencies. Residencies require applications. You send in samples of your work with the application and if accepted spend a week, or maybe even a year at the residency center.
Last spring I attended a two week residency in a cabin a couple hours from home. It was free of cost, but in return I led a workshop at a wine bar in town. Some residencies are highly competitive and include financial benefits; some may cost money, or require work hours. It can be a bit daunting to have weeks of free time to let your brain create, but I highly recommend the experience.
If you are looking for something more directed, writing retreats are an option. Retreats may offer generative periods as well as craft workshops, meetups, and networking. Writer Groups will often offer these, or you can pay to attend for-profit retreats that will be well organized. If this isn’t your style, get a few writer friends together and go in on a house for the weekend.
Maybe it isn’t quiet time you are looking for, but writing CTE’s. We all need to hone our craft! Libraries, senior centers, community centers, and writers groups are great places to find offerings of free or inexpensive writing workshops. I teach some at Squatchcon in Port Angeles every spring. People pop in for an hour and listen to the presenter discuss just about anything you can imagine.
I like to have plenty of writing exercises in my workshops so folks can try out what we’re discussing. Over the years I have offered classes on Finding Historical Characters, Creating and Sustaining Narrative Tension, Worldbuilding, and Character development. This year I am shaking things up and offering a Writing Relationships 101, and a two hour seminar for teens on Getting your Ideas from Brain to Page. In SquatchCon’s case, workshops are included in the price of a ticket so people can come listen to me talk for free!
Looking for a lot of workshops in one place? Go to a writing conference. Most regions have a huge writing conference every year with loads of speakers, panels who will listen to book proposals, agents and publishers, and workshops on any topic you can imagine. There are also vendors, meetups, and hundreds to thousands of participants.
If that is too much, look for more specialized conferences. The Historical Novelist Society of North America hosts a conference every two years on a slightly smaller scale. Other genres have their own events. Two smaller towns on the Olympic Peninsula have their own small writing conferences; less overwhelming. Expect to pay hundreds of dollars for a multi-day conference, though some have scholarship or student rates.
And finally, I would highly recommend finding a writing group. Some groups discuss craft, others workshop, some get together and write (introverts), but all offer support and encouragement.
The White Crane Philosophical Society Literary Conclave meets monthly. We send out 5k words or so to the other members and make notes. When we come together we discuss everyone’s work. We are a fairly small group so we can spend quite a bit time with our thoughts.
Writing groups can be like therapists, you have to find a good fit. You are sharing the most vulnerable parts of yourself and opening it up to comments and criticism which can be absolutely terrifying. It can also make your work stronger.
As writers, we take inspiration from the world around us. We listen to conversations in restaurants, we turn peculiar people into characters, we need to experience places in order to describe in 200 words the way the desert gravel crunches under boots. We also need to pull ourselves away from the daily distractions and carve out moments to put words onto the page. There are plenty of places to do this if only we know where to look.
Mamasquatch the Writer 
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