by Susan Forest
It was a lovely weekend, and I got to re-read the entire novel, capturing little wording and plot snags and correcting them. Tomorrow it is off to my Kensington Writers’ Group for critique and I plan to take a Saturday or two off to get caught up on all the things I have been ducking as the novel came close to completion. I’ve already plotted the next book, and will start writing, probably during the Write-Off.
Ta-ta!
So, the Rainforest Retreat was absolutely fabulous — finished the rough draft of my novel. Also, thanks to Patrick Swensen who put the retreat together so well — each day there was an optional session run by a top-notch writer at 11 AM and again at 3 PM, so we got great tips on plot, setting, character, openings, and so forth, while most of our time was spent on our own writing. This, of course, meant that we could begin to apply what was shared immediately. Earlybird writing in the common room started at 6 AM, and I was usually there between 7 and 8; and Nightowl writing seems to have gone until about 2 AM — although I generally quit by about 10 PM. Other than the workshops, I only stopped writing for dinner (with friends, old and new), grazing lunch and breakfast, and physical breaks for yoga and short hikes to clear my head and think through my next scene. I hoped to finish about 6 of my 12 remaining scenes, and as I said, I got the whole thing done. This weekend, I’m spending time with my family skiing, snowboarding and playing pool to get a little distance from the novel (okay, that’s not much, but it’s a LITTLE). Next weekend I begin a week of Spring Break, and that’s when the real work on the novel begins: revision!
I belong to 3 writers’ groups and one of them, Kensington, meets on an as-needed basis. Last Monday we got together to crit a novel just completed by one of our members. Francis wrote a historical YA that is excellent. We had a few suggestions for her, but it’s pretty much ready to be sent out. Then we had a discussion about the business, again, trading information that can be helpful to all. Got a couple of websites to check out and more inspiration! Only 2 days now to the Rainforest Writers’ Retreat west of Seattle, run by Patrick Swensen of Fairwood Press. Can hardly wait!
IFWA, my writers’ group, has a bi-yearly tradition of setting aside a weekend JUST for writing. It’s a poor-man’s writers’ retreat. As members, it’s free to us (and the group even buys us pizza for the Saturday night when we all read a little of what we have written so far). From 6 PM Friday to 5 PM Sunday, you can hear nothing but the clacking of keys — especially my daughter, Heather’s. I forget how many thousand words she wrote over the weekend, but the excerpt she read aloud on Saturday night was to die for. I am so proud of her!
I got no actual words written, but I went through all the notes I have been accumulating over the past few weeks and wrote plot outlines for 2 novels. Lots of thinking / problem solving involved, so even though I had most of it worked out ahead of time, I was pretty cooked by the end of the weekend. However, I’m ready to go!
THIS weekend, I work on chapter one of my new novel, and I get almost 2 full days to work on it because the ski season hasn’t (quite) started yet — have to keep the instrument tuned, you know: healthy and active — and because last Christmas, Heather gave me the best gift a writer can get: a weekend to write. She is doing all my chores for me this weekend, so I have nothing between me and my story.
I’m away this weekend, going to the Canadian Mountain Guides’ Ball (my sister is one of five female mountain guides in Canada) and taking a train trip through the Rocky Mountains with my husband – what a treat! Focusing back on short fiction, now. I have a story to be critqued by my writers’ group (IFWA) in early November and I just popped 3 stories in the mail last Sunday. I have 2 very cool short story ideas – hope to get to one of them (between social activities) this weekend. Vampires . . .