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WRITING RETREAT 2020

Introduction

I have just returned from my critique group’s second annual writing retreat.  We spent three days in northern New Hampshire writing, relaxing, socializing, and eating (one of our writers is a professional chef!). One of the best things about this retreat is that it was structured, and yet flexible. We had a plan, but frequently amended the plan to include spur-of-the-moment activities or to designate more time where it was needed. I now feel refreshed in spirit, mind, and body; ready for more writing. In addition, I am immensely glad these ‘gurlz’ are my writing partners and, most importantly, my friends.

The Drives Up and Back

While I balk at sometimes having to drive an hour and forty-five minutes one-way to work, I thoroughly enjoyed the long drive to and from the retreat. I carpooled with one of my CPs. We were able to chat and catch up, something neither of us had had much time for in the past several weeks. It was the perfect start to three days of writer’s bliss.

Hitchhiking

In this article by Kim, one of my critique partners, she explains how to use ‘hitchhiking’ to get the creative juices flowing. While we ate lunch and waited for all six of us to arrive, we practiced hitchhiking stories. One of us would start a story, and we’d keep going around the table, adding a sentence or two at a time, until the story ended. Let me tell you, the stories never went in the direction I thought they were going to go. I was particularly grateful for this activity:  I used it to flesh out some of my Storystorm 2020 ideas.

Juggling

One of our critique partners is a professional clown and circus performer. She treated us to a juggling break where we learned to juggle poi and practiced what we had learned last year: juggling scarves. This elevated our heart rates and got the blood pumping to our brains in preparation for our next activity: making vision boards.

Vision Boards

At the beginning of the month, we worked together to help each other come up with a focus word for 2020. Mine was ‘explore.’ We took our words to the retreat, and used scrapbook materials, magazines, and other craft supplies to create a collage representation of what our word meant to us. Set among the background of music and wine, this was the perfect creative activity for the evening. I made three vision boards! (I couldn’t stop myself!)

Morning Yoga and Wish Paper

Kate, another one of my critique partners, teaches yoga to teens at the library. She led us in poses that stretched the body, followed by an exercise to stretch the mind. We wrote wishes for 2020 on wish paper and curled each paper into a cylinder. We then placed the cylinders on a plate and lit the top of each one on fire. After a few seconds, the wishes leapt into the air, consumed in flames! I caught my charred remains and smeared some of the ashes into my writing notebook—I’m not really sure why; it felt symbolic.

Storymatic

I have to purchase this game for writers. Jackie brought Storymatic—both the version for kids and the one for adults—to the retreat. We selected cards like “librarian in love” and “mirror” or “covered in tattoos,” “doesn’t feel attractive enough,” and “obvious plastic surgery” and spent 10-15 minutes writing stories which integrated the phrases. Then we read our stories out loud. My favorite memory was not being able to finish the first (and then the second!) sentence of one of my stories without everyone interrupting with laughter and snorts.

Acting

We helped each other unstick our sticking points. This ‘helping’ took the usual form of ‘talking things out,’ except, however, when it didn’t! We discussed one partner’s plot points. We brainstormed titles for another member. After that, we acted out the picture book I’m writing and which recently has me stumped. Watching my story performed as a play was hilarious and fabulous, and probably one of—if not the—highlights of the retreat. This exercise—which was more fun than work—helped me immediately with setting, plot, dialogue, and a whole lot more. Above all, I am so grateful for these moments of laughter and improvisation and will cherish them forever, even if this particular picture book never gets published. (But I think it will! Someday!)

Freewriting

What would a writing retreat be without freewriting? There was plenty of this, thank goodness! I got to do my morning pages, kept up with Storystorm, and worked on drafts for at least two picture books. Similarly, I wrote poems, concocted silly brain-unblocking stories, and journaled. I may use one of the Storymatic ideas that I fleshed out during a freewriting session, and turn it into a picture book. In addition, I may also use a question one of my critique partners asked me—What would you tell your eleven-year-old self if you could go back in time? —as a blog post.

Conclusion

There is no ‘all-in-all’ or ‘in conclusion’ sort of ending that justifies just how amazing the entirety of this writing retreat was. Friendships were solidified and strengthened. Tears and laughter united us. And writing… did I mention how much I love Love LOVE writing?!

Have you been on a writing retreat lately? Similarly, what do you look for in a writing retreat or critique partners?

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A DIY Writing Retreat

One year and six months – that’s how long I had been attending the bi-monthly local critique group before we held our first retreat for children’s book writers.  As I approached the huge house on the coast of Maine, I wondered…Would I like the writing retreat?  Would we all get along?  Well, as it turned out, the retreat was everything I had hoped it would be and more.

We began.

After a brief welcome session, we began with a workshop on goal-setting.  I had volunteered to lead this workshop, and I used Lisa Jacobs’ YOUR BEST YEAR, 2018 as a guideline.  Discussions centered around how we had been our own worst enemies concerning our writing for the previous year, and how we planned to overcome these obstacles for 2019.  One of the things I realized was that I needed to get beyond the negative self-talk I sometimes have in my mind (“You’re not a good writer,” “Why bother submitting, you’ll only get rejected,” etc.). 

Query Letter Workshop

Friday afternoon consisted of our first manuscript critique session, query letter critiques, and discussion about our soon-to-be-launched group blog.  The query-writing workshop really stuck with me.  One thing I learned was that every sentence in a query should be unique to the writer’s story or to the writer herself.  I was happy to learn something new, especially as I was also leading the query workshop.  (This highlights the importance of getting together with like-minded writers from time to time!)  I had prepared by summarizing scores of articles I had read online about query writing, but do you know what?  We wanted to concentrate whole-heartedly on critiquing each other’s queries, so I saved my notes for a future blog post instead.  (I had thought three days was plenty of time for a retreat, but we didn’t get to do everything on our carefully planned outline!)

A chef?!

After breakfast on Saturday morning (Did I mention one of our critique partners is a chef?!) we did a creative writing prompts exercise focused on character study.  Next, we had two hours of free write time, which I used to fine-tune my query letter.  The morning concluded with a lecture on revision, based on information from Jim Averback and the Storyteller Academy.  This lecture highlighted one of the main problems I have in writing picture book middles:  writing action that is both escalating and cause-and-effect.  I can’t wait to apply all of the helpful tid-bits I learned to my manuscripts!

Tons of Fun

After lunch, we took our group photo for our upcoming blog – we had tons of fun, because we were outside in the snow.  Then we spent the rest of Saturday afternoon critiquing manuscripts and planning how we want to structure our four hours per month of in-person time for the rest of 2019.  We discovered that receiving critiques was a priority for everyone, as was the business of working on our group blog, but we decided to table exploring the craft of writing until our blog gets going.  (We’ll all be attending at least one SCBWI conference this year.)

Focused

Sunday, we focused on three things:  writing and critiquing some of the group posts for our blog, how to better communicate with each other (think:  beyond email), and a retreat reflection.  The retreat reflection was especially enlightening for me.  My biggest take-away message from the retreat was:  don’t be afraid because fear paralyzes creativity.  I had shared one of my WIPs with the group, having gone back and forth with whether or not to do so.  Drafting it had been so much fun, and yet, I was afraid… probably afraid of rejection.  But the thing is, if something causes me joy to write, then it is worth sharing, period.  And everyone encouraged me to keep working on this special WIP and to eventually submit it.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I highly recommend the DIY writing retreat.  For less than $300.00, I came away with invaluable information, advice, and deepened friendships.  I am grateful to have met these six fabulous ladies. I am terribly fearful of our group fizzling out, but I don’t think that will happen because we are all driven by a sincere desire (maybe even something more than ‘desire’) to be published children’s book authors.  I think I speak for all of us when I say that we are enjoying how we have shared our writing journey together thus far, and that we look forward to all of our future interactions.  Oh yes, and there will be many more writing retreats in the years to come!