Saturday, March 19, 2011

Writing Retreat

The writing retreat at the coast was planned to be for three. Then one of us won a big prize and had a reading on the first or second day of our retreat (the first day wasn't set in stone due to other obligations).

And that was awesome.

How perfect that the winning entry would be read during the time of our planned retreat.

Except that the timing didn't work with the place we were going to stay, unless we wanted to drive 3-5 hours every day for four days in a row. Cut out the first night of the retreat and just go north for the reading on the first day, down and over to the coast on the second day, and back over the mountains to home the third day? Um. No. And the beach house time couldn't be extended.

Okay. Regroup. What do we want to do?

After a misunderstanding and clarification we decided to look for a miracle beach cabin - that weekend (now) being the beginning of spring break.
I found one. From the description on craigslist and the linked website. And it was available.

Cool.

Booked it.

As you may have guessed by now. Other things came up. Illness, children, exhaustion. But the reading went well in Seattle last night. We had fun; the authors were all amazing - our group member was awesome and people loved her work. And we went out for a while afterward with one of the curated authors from NYC and a couple other writers and artists (we got back to the house where we were staying at 3am!).

And now here I am, at the beach house. Alone. I miss my friends - and I am out of town. With my laptop. With the most recent version of the story I'm submitting this week - with more revision to do since the deadline was extended.

And I'm okay. I also brought the printout of the sections of the memoir. I have plenty to do and it's just me. With a glass of Cathedral Ridge Winery pinot noir, an organic turkey pot pie, brussel sprouts, and some Moonstruck Chile dark chocolate. With Erin Baker's granola and Chioban yogurt and an apple waiting for breakfast.

A personal writing retreat. This will be good and my friends and I will reschedule.
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