Tag Archive for: writer’s retreat

Retreating…

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By Cathy Perkins


What’s the appeal of a writing retreat? There are as many types of writing retreats
as there are writers. Some are world famous organized affairs, while most are events
planned with friends. Drop “writing retreat” into your internet browser and
pages of links will fill the screen.
Stepping
back, though, let’s look at the big picture. What’s mentioned most often as the
key ingredient for a writing retreat?
Time.

A
retreat reduces our usual distractions for guilt free writing time. Away from
home, spouse, family, friends, pets, day-jobs, laundry, and stacks of unopened
mail, we can relish the time and the freshness of a new place. When we step
through the door of our temporary haven, there are no defining expectations, no
history. In this place we are Writer
rather than cook, chauffeur, pet walker, diaper changer, Scout leader, event planner, or any
of the myriad roles layered on by our usual routine.

Of
course, this giddy freedom can also produce overly ambitious goals. I’ll work day and night and crank out a
hundred new pages, thousands of words!
Given how difficult it can be to carve out
time away from our jobs and lives, we might feel pressured to be uber productive. We feel guilty if we’re
not making every minute count. But that’s missing the other primary goal of a
writing retreat – a chance to rest, renew, and refill the creative well. The
goal is not to return home feeling you’ve just pulled a series of all-nighters.
Somewhere in between these two goals lives an
individual balance point. I have friends whose ideal writing retreat is a hotel
room with in-room dining service and a view of the roof top air-handling equipment.
They are there to write. Period. End of sentence. Maybe they have a deadline to
meet or that’s their personality, but the separation from the world is purely functional.
Other friends roll the retreat into a
mini-vacation. Write a couple of hours in the morning and afternoon and then indulge
the rest of the day with friends or, as The
Artist’s Way calls it, feeding the inner child. Visit galleries, spend time
with writing friends, walk on the beach or hike a mountain trail. Read in a clawfoot bathtub or bing-watch a complete season of Outlander. The writing
time flies by with flowing words and the writer goes home ready to tackle the
rest of the novel and the rest of her life.


I’m somewhere in the middle of these extremes. 
For several years. I’ve go to our fall retreat to write and I always get a lot done. “Done” can be
words written, a story spine planned, or the minutia of an upcoming release
scheduled. 
But it’s also a time of creative renewal for me to visit with
friends, to talk story with people who don’t roll their eyes (cough, cough,
family) and to walk for hours on the beach. 



What does your favorite or ideal writing retreat look like?






An award-winning author of financial mysteries, Cathy Perkins writes twisting dark suspense and light amateur sleuth stories.  When not writing, she battles with the beavers over the pond height or heads out on another travel adventure. She lives in Washington with her husband, children, several dogs and the resident deer herd. Her latest release is Double Down, available at major online retailers. 


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How To Come Up With Story Ideas

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by Paffi S. Flood


I
attended a writer’s retreat last month, and on the first night, we
played Jenga with a twist. Instead of wooden blocks, the pieces were
cardboard boxes, and the tower itself stood almost eight feet high. It
survived much longer than any of us expected, and after about twenty
minutes or so, it came crashing down.


With
the heap still there the next morning, we were asked to choose a box
and our assignment for the week was to write our story ideas on it. Regardless of how illegible or how fancy our writing, we were told to just jot it down.


How do we come up with story ideas? We brainstorm. At this point in the project, everything works. Go crazy. I usually start by asking myself, “What if?” For example:

  • What if a blind guy pet his cat and noticed it was really furry?
  • What if the cat turned out to be an escaped tiger?
  • What if the tiger escaped because its handler had been killed?



Another way to tackle this is to fill in the blanks for “_______ meets ________.” For example:

  • “Wuthering Heights” meets “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.”
  • “Star Trek” meets “The Bachelor.”
  • “Sweet Valley High” meets “Escape From Alcatraz.”



Yes,
the examples are nonsensical, but that’s the “idea.” Start with
something way over the top and use that as inspiration to get to the ones that work.


On
the last night of the retreat, we carried our boxes to a gathering
around a bonfire. There, to the horror of everyone, we were told to
pitch them into the blaze. As we watched each one go up in flames, we
realized the thing with ideas is they’re disposable. Just as
quickly as we come up with them, they can be gone. And just as quickly
as they’re gone, we can come up with more.


Don’t be afraid to throw away your ideas and start over, because once they turn into a novel and that novel needs revision, this is where you’ll be. Again.

________________________________________________


Paffi S. Flood is the author of A Killing Strikes Home. You can also find her on twitter and facebook.