Writing Retreat-Fort Bragg
I’m taking a break. I’ve been writing since 6:30 this morning. Actually, I’ve been writing for 3 days from 6:30am to 10pm. My back and shoulders will tell you this is a bad idea. My brain and imagination will say it is glorious.
Here are some pictures of my little retreat site:
The table with my laptop where I am working;
The window I peer out when I can’t think of the right word (though sometimes I look up and truly can’t remember where I am because I’ve been so lost in the lives of the inventors I’m writing about);
The garden at the center of the motel complex where I stroll when my back and shoulders scream so loudly my brain can’t get a word in edgewise.
Tonight my writing group arrives for the conference which starts tomorrow, so I’ll be switching gears in a few hours. But for now I’ll take a loop around the garden then go back to writing.
(The date setting is wrong on the camera. These were taken today:)
Friday, I went to Moaning Caverns with Cody and August. Cody rode the zipline and both boys did the climbing wall. Then we made our way down the sprial staircase deep into the cave.
Saturday was Athan’s birthday. We went to Brentwood Lake with his family and the Harrelons. He enjoyed swimming with Leon, Aliou, and Kyle, but it seemed like his favorite thing was getting all wet and rolling in the sand.
I sure do love my gransons!!!
From Connie’s retirement party:
I always pause when faced with a possessive construction that involves two people. Do you add the apostrophe “s” to both names or only to the latter one? Somewhere along the line I learned to put it on both names, but I was never confident about this usage.
Then the other day, I received an email message from my favorite and most trusted editor Anne in which she wrote this: “Andy and Connie’s address.” I quickly dashed off a reply asking her to tell me the rule for this double possession construction, and here is her answer:
If two people own something together (it belongs to them as a couple), then you only use the possessive for the latter one. If two people own equal shares of something separately, then both get the possessive; both also get the possessive if the items are separate.
Patricia is Andy and John’s sister.
Chris is Andrea’s and Skylar’s mother. (not the best example, maybe, but I’m trying to show that this construction comes in handy with step-families)
We went to Connie’s and Jack’s party (i.e. we went to Connie’s party and then we went to Jack’s party).
No more pauses on this one for me. Now I can make my mark (or not) with confidence. Or can I? Shouldn’t “party” be “parties” in the last example? Better dash off another email.
Cindy sent her computer in for a tune up while we were in Southern California, so we haven’t downloaded the photos nor do I have access to the great photos from the first week of July, so this evening’s blog will have no pictures but a lot of kudos.
Kudos to Cindy for arranging such a thrifty vacation to Southern California. She used coupons and points and terrific Internet research skills to get us the best deals possible, like $100 in free gas at Arco, a beautiful 2 bedroom suite for free at the Sheraton in Ventura right beside the harbor, and low, low rates on a hotel in Anaheim and tickets to Knotts Berry Farm. She baked chocolate chip cookies and filled ice chests with delicious sandwich fixings and lots of bottled water and Vitamin water. We had wonderful picnics at rest stops and on the beach. The girls had fruit and pop tarts for breakfast in our room. She talked the bike rental guy into a cheaper rate because it was so late in the day when we rented the bikes.
I doubt if there are very many travelers who could have the quality vacation we had for so little money; AND we came home to find some job offers on voice and email, so the downturn that our finances took last month may be taking a little turn for the better and even if that doesn’t happen, I can count on Cindy to make sure we don’t miss out on good times just because we are poor.
Last time, I wrote about the challenges of maintaining a committed writers group. I promised that in the next post I would list the guidelines that have proven effective in my writers groups. Here they are:
- We agree to get our pieces to one another at least two days in advance of meetings
- Our protocol for responding to pieces is as follows
- Readers come to group having read each piece in advance and prepared written commentary to offer the writer to supplement verbal critique.
- Readers discuss each piece for a predetermined amount of time while the writer listens and takes notes after which the writer is invited to participate.
- Readers discuss the piece saying the writer or the narrator or the writer’s name, but not using the pronoun you.
- Responses begin with what is working in the piece, specific places where language is exciting or full of energy, images that are sparkling, writing that is fluid, etc. Sufficient time should be given to discussing the merits of the piece before turning to critique.
- When pointing to places that don’t work well in a reader’s opinion, the reader is as specific as possible. We offer suggestions with the clear understanding that the writer ultimately decides what will work in her piece.
- Writers listen carefully to the opinion of others, recognizing that this is simply one opinion in many and that others, including the writer, may view the work differently. Writers take what is useful and leave the rest.
- Writers needn’t defend content, style, or word choice. Critique is simply meant to give one reader’s response. The impulse to defend comes from protectiveness around our work but can also be a signal that something deeper needs to be communicated on the page.
- We put writing first. We are not an emotional support group. Our discussions come from a writerly perspective. We agree that if a conflict among members arises it will be managed with honest self-examination and one-to-one communication as the first option and a separate full group business meeting as a last resort.
- A full group business meeting will be called separate from our regularly scheduled meetings to make major changes in our guidelines. Temporary or minor changes can be discussed at the close of each regular meeting.
- We agree to keep our criticism fresh, focused, honest, and generous. We all wish to grow as writers.
- We will have quarterly retreats that will particularly focus on exploring craft and technique as well as developing the level and perceptiveness of our critique.
Please let me know what you think of these guidelines or if you have additions, questions, or other considerations when it comes to developing a protocol for a writers group.
Allow me to weigh in on Fun Parks, for example Great America and Knotts Berry Farm. I’ve been to both in less than a week–Great America with Anna Mae and Kiki and Knotts with Sabrina, Brittany, and Cindy. I don’t get it!!!
What’s the fun of being turned upside down, whipped around, flown through the air, or spun until your legs are wobbly and your stomach is churning? There are all kinds of people standing in line to do such things. I don’t get it!!!
My feet hurt and it was hot!! I sat on the ground waiting for young people on rides because there aren’t enough benches for everyone who wants to sit and I kept squeezing myself into any inch of shade I could find. I went on rides that soaked me through and through and walked in wet clothes until my legs were chafed like a baby’s with a wet diaper.
Tell me when it starts being fun??
When those kids say, “Thank you! That was so much fun!”
I’ll blog about the cram packed first week of July when I get back from Southern California (i.e. Clare’s 1st birthday, Great America, jamming freelancing), but just a note about the beach for now.
You can’t take the northern California girl out of me, but a Southern California beach is definitely the most redeeming quality of the lower half of my native state. There is nothing like napping on the beach with the sand carved out for every curve of one’s body and a lovely breeze blowing gently across the skin. AHHH~
Then there is body surfing, of which I did not partake. but Sabrina and Brittany could not wait to take the plunge, gingerly followed by Cindy who once she was baptized by one good cold wave, hung in there for a good half hour of surfing with only 2 major wipe outs. (I waded into the surf and took pictures.)
Best of all of was bicycling along miles of paved road fronting the beach and dedicated to walkers, runners, and bicyclists. We rented those cool old fashioned bikes with upright handles and foot brakes. The coolest compliment this 61 year old woman could get came from the elderly Asian who handed us our bikes: “You look like you’re pretty athletic,” he said as I mounted my bicycle. Those words sent me joyfully pedaling forth on the best ride in recent memory.
As we left the beach, we stopped to watch three street performers doing break dancing. Oh my could those guys dance. Makes you wonder how such talent gets relegated to the street.
Today we go to Knotts Berry Farm . . . certain to be a different experience from the sun, sand, and surf at Huntington Beach!
I can’t say enough good things about my writers group. They are kind but astute critics. They are dependable both in putting writing first in their lives and in making our group meetings a priority. We celebrate one another’s successes, be it publication, finding just the right title for a piece, or winning a contest. We are generous with one another too, concerned about each other’s comfort at meetings or challenges related to getting to group. Like I said, “I love my writer’s group.”
Finding a committed group of writers was not an easy thing. During my first creative writing workshop in 1990, I discovered the value of getting feedback and encouragment from fellow writers. For this reason, several of my class members decided to continue meeting after the class ended. However, that group lasted for only six months. That was the start of my experience with short-lived groups.
For the next five years, I worked doggedly to convene groups of writers–anywhere from 4-6. Each group would started out enthusiastically and gradually diminish until I was the only one left. The longest any of these groups met was 6 months. I was frustrated because I’d read about successful groups and wanted to be part of one. But I was getting gun-shy, thinking that either I didn’t know any writers with same the level of commitment to a group as I and/or that I was doing something wrong in the way I organized such groups.
After my fifth group faded into oblivion, I suspended the urge to start again and simply went solo for over a year. One day, I was talking with a friend about my wish for a group, and she mentioned another friend who was writing who might be interested. I thought about it for a week before finally calling this woman. She was game, and we decided to meet for coffee and talk about what we were looking for in a group. That coffee date was the start of our “group of 2.” For 4 years, we met twice a month for an hour and half at 7am in that same coffee shop.
Then we decided to expand our edges, and we each invited one writer friend. Both accepted and that group meet for 2 years. We were a dynamic foursome, and it was during that time that I completed my first book as did 2 of the other members. Then sadly my original partner decided to move out of the area and another member had health issues, so we were down to 2.
Since it had worked before, the 2 remaining members each invited one writer to join us. That group never jelled as nicely as the first group and seemed to limp along for a year until 2 of the writers dropped out including the one from the great foursome. Summer was coming and the remaining writer and I decided to organize a summer group of mostly teacher- writers who liked to use summer to pursue their writing vocations. Big egos in that group caused the most contentious group I’ve ever been a part of and by the end of summer I was deeply disheartened.
It took some fast talking from the women who had helped organize that group to convince me to try again. But I’m glad I did. This time we started with a large group of 8 writers in September and by the following summer we were down to four. By fall, 1 of those had dropped out but 2 more joined. The five have worked together for a solid year, though at the beginning of this summer we lost a member to a cross country move.
I’m glad that I’ve consistently made the effort to keep a writers group going. Having the support of other writers means a lot to me. Next post, I’ll offer our group guidelines for your consideration. In the meantime, let me know what your experience has been with writers groups.
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