Thursday, December 13, 2012

Another Productive Retreat

I felt called to take myself on retreat again. It's so hard for me to write during the work week, and with the holidays coming up and then a knee replacement looming in January, I wanted to make some real headway with the second book in my Local Foods Mystery series. 

I found a Quaker retreat house in West Falmouth, which is on the near edge of Cape Cod, on  Buzzard's Bay. The house is just across a Friends graveyard from the West Falmouth Friends Meetinghouse that was built in 1842. I reserved a room for $25 per night, but no one else was going to be there, so that was the price of the entire house.

I drove down after work on a Friday with a bad cold and stocked a few simple provisions. I set up my netbook, made some tea, and set to writing. My only distractions were my own: going for a walk, reading, thinking. The house did NOT come equipped with internet. This turned out to be a huge blessing. I crossed the street to the library once a day to check for any messages that needed acting on and otherwise left cyberspace alone.

I wrote and wrote and wrote. I took care of my cold and kept writing. I gazed out the back window at the remnants of the Meeting garden, moseyed out to pluck some bits of parsley for my soup, and kept writing. I went for a walk down to the bay and sat and listened to the calm winter lapping of the bay, then went back and kept writing


I had recently re-read Rachel Aaron's post on how she writes 10,000 words a day (and thanks to Ramona DeFelice Long for reminding me of that post last week). One of her secrets is to leave home for few hours. Check, in spades. Another is to only write the interesting scenes (and really, if you aren't compelled to write it, readers probably won't be compelled to read it, either).  I had plotted a few scenes ahead. So I jumped to the really interesting one and wrote that. Then I went back and wrote the scenes leading up to that one, making them more interesting, too. Check.


I took meal breaks at the kitchen counter and finished Kaye George's latest funny mystery set in Texas, Smoke, and then started Jeri Westerson's latest in her fabulous Crispin Guest series, Blood Lance, but I only let myself read as long as I was eating. Then, guess what, I kept writing. 



I walked through the graveyard to sit in worship with Friends on Sunday morning, then got to know a few of them, handing out bookmarks for Speaking of Murder as I did (well, it does have a Quaker protagonist). Then I went back to write.


My cold was still pretty bad late Sunday night (despite adding a bit of brandy to my tea with honey and lemon) and my cough wasn't fit for human company. I cancelled my plan to drive very early to work on Monday morning and filed for a sick day, instead. I stayed at my writing station until midday on Monday. Final tally for just under 3 full days of retreat? 15,071 words. Wow! 

The work in progress is now just under 100 pages long. It isn't due until July 1 but I feel very comfortable with this headway. Sure, it's a rough first draft. Now, though, I am confident that I will have enough time to schedule in revision and polishing before I have to send it off. 

Quaker House, I will return to thee.

What's your favorite retreat center? Where are you most productive writing when you can grab a stretch of time, whether it's three hours or three days?

18 comments:

  1. Thanks very much for the shout out. ANd I love you retreat!

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    1. Most well deserved, Jeri~ And it was a fabulous three days.

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  2. My absolute most productive place to write is sitting in front of a blank wall with no noise from TV or radio or cd. Oh, yeah, don't anyone who read this freak.... I write my book in longhand, cannot create on computer. I know how to write but I would need to think about how to work computer. I print a hardcopy of each chapter and revise on the hardcopy and then put corrections into computer. How's that for being a dinosaur>>>> Pat Grasso

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    1. Hey, it clearly works for you, Pat! How often do you type in what you have written longhand? I also revise on hardcopy. You see things printed out that you never see on the screen.

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  3. What a wonderful sounding retreat, Edith. Being able to block out everything else so that the creative juices can flow is so helpful! Congrats on a lot of progress on that WIP!

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    1. Thanks, Terry! The progress certainly happened for me. Now on to making cookies. ;^)

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  4. Just now checking this out, Edith. I too have been battling a cold. Love your retreat setting. Our NTRWA chapter offers a writing retreat each year. Sometime lots of folks participate, some years not so many. In November, 5 of us went to a simple B & B in Irving, Texas. (still more expensive than your place.) Two of the participants were new to the writing process. I made it clear I wasn't spending time visiting. (Kind of unfriendly of me, but I'd gone to write.) Everyone was understanding. We saw each other at breakfast and then got together at supper. As a result, the two new people are meeting once a week to write. (Before they had nothing set in stone.) I wrote more that weekend than last year. 16,K plus. My goal was to finish Book 6, which I didn't do, but did in the next week. Like you say, needs polishing and editing. But I love going away like that. LOL My hands ached from how fast I was typing. I set out my littl stuffed dog, Scruffy. He's the guy who lets my creativity fly and not my ugly editor. Now I wasn't sick, Edith. I don't know how you managed so many words with your cold. Do you go often? That price makes it really affordable. Hope you get well soon. I swear by chicken soup.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, Marsha. I think what enabled me to continue writing despite the cold was that I was alone. I did lie down on the couch Saturday afternoon and sleep for an hour, but otherwise it was so quiet and healing that the cold didn't get in the way of word count.

      Your RWA retreat sound great!

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  5. Thanks for the mention--hope you enjoyed the book! January will be the 4th anniversary of my knee replacement and it's still a good decision. A functional, painless knee--Yay! Good luck!

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    1. I loved the book, Kaye!

      Glad you had good results with your replacement. Am hoping for same.

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  6. Edith your blog post sounds like the synopsis for a great novel! As for the setting, I'm extremely jealous and will have to make it a point in my life to visit the same place and stay in a similar cottage.

    I like the check point that talks about writing an interesting scene first. Sometimes I just sit and stare at the screen feeling like I must plow through, writing everything in order. But writing a fun scene is usually a good way to get the creative juices flowing again.

    Congratulations on your progress, its inspiring.

    Annie
    www.annieadamstheauthor.com

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    1. Thanks so much, Annie. The village setting is intriguing. West Falmouth appeared to be pretty well heeled, as they say, but getting my provisions in Falmouth showed me a different clientele and its only a few miles away. I'd love to live in that area and soak up the local culture, both dark and light, for a while.

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  7. Sounds heavenly, Edith. It's the only way to go. Like Pat, I write longhand - I know, I know!

    Glad you had such a successful week-end!

    Feel better ~ Dianne

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    1. Thanks, Dianne. Hey, no worries about writing method. It's getting the words onto the page that counts. Think of all the masterpieces in our past that were written on paper, nay, with quill and an ink pot! Right?

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  8. Edith, I think you have discovered your writing bliss: alone, no distractions, a peaceful atmosphere. It can't be your daily life but retreats like this maybe can be the way you get the bulk of your new writing accomplished. You seem to respond to the discipline and understand what you need to do to be productive. Kudos to you for making it happen for yourself. I'm pleased to have played a small role in it. I hope you have many such weekends ahead.

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    1. I agree, Ramona, although it's hard to snatch weekends like this one. My real challenge is to recreate that atmosphere closer to home, like for four hours on a Saturday, even by just going to the library.

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  9. Glad you had such a nice and productive weekend of writing. Too bad about the cold, hope it's clearing up.

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    1. Thank you, Anne. I'm feeling starting to feel myself again!

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