Away Time

The time away was very good, though I didn't get as much done as I wanted to on Heart Fate, catching up with all the beginning scenes I've written, I did quite a bit.

And the trip did what it was expected to do, got me out of my non-routine and away somewhere else and jump started my writing again. I also got some really good research out of it.

I arrived Wednesday to find a glitch in my hotel, apparently the room they said they had online wasn't available. So I upgraded. The place was ok, but I've found that I REALLY want some sort of view. All I had was a skylight that showed the top of an aspen and the sky -- which was interesting, blue and white and gray and rainy every day -- but I needed more to look at while I was writing. So I won't go back to that place.

Anyway, Wednesday I arrived a little early for check-in and got in, unpacked and generally laid around and read a couple of books. Did some collaging in my journal, too. Went into town to scope it out and it looks like it would do fine transplanted to Celta.

Thursday I worked hard on my pages, first transferring the revisions to the laptop then worked on the hard copy. I missed my new word count by 50 words or so.

Friday was BANG! Woke up with, of all things, a couple of scenes for Singer for the World. Since one can be included in the proposal due next month, I went ahead and gave myself permission to write. Three hours later I had 12 pages of at least 3 scenes for the book. THEN I made about 6 pages for Heart Fate, also did a little collage and worked on the hard copy.

Today I did transitions between scenes, realized I had the old stuff and had written a transition and melded them together. I'm still not at the end of my hard copy pages, so I'll do that after this.

EVERY DAY I went out to lunch and sometimes dinner and drove around afterwards. I watched the sunsets. I did long, long drives in the mountains and took notes for research. Didn't go to the spa.

Last night I wanted company but there were no kindred souls, and nothing good on TV. I had a Nancy Drew computer mystery game and loaded it and played a little.

What I learned.

Going away is good. Get a room with a view. Take more pics and notes for research.
Take breaks and do nature walks, drives.
Consider going with a friend, or attending other writing retreats (I have my eye on one in November and can go to the family place in Seal Beach in February or so).
Do this 3 times a year.
Hire a cat sitter even for a few days.

May your creativity flow today.
Robin