Retreating by Annette Dashofy

When last I posted here, I was about to retreat into Book Jail, my self-imposed confinement aimed at pounding out pages on my works in progress. That’s how I spent all of September, and my stint in lockup was a success. I finished revisions on one manuscript and sent it off to my editor. I finished drafting a second manuscript and sent it off to my beta readers. And I started drafting a third manuscript and managed to get a lot accomplished. 

Once the calendar turned to October, however, I had to step out of my incarceration and attend a few book events to keep my face in front of the readers. I continued to draft manuscript #3, only at a slower pace. And my beta readers sent me their notes, so I had to pull manuscript #2 out again and start rewriting. 

Last weekend, my Pittsburgh Chapter of Sisters in Crime held our “annual” writing retreat. 

To clarify, it’s been several years since we had an “annual” retreat. Even pre-pandemic, the tradition had fallen by the wayside. But with some new blood on board, interest sparked, and we made it happen. 

Mountain Ridge Retreat is a rental property out in the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania. Literally. Out in the middle of NOWHERE. If you don’t bring it with you, you’re going to have to drive twenty miles to buy it.

Our view from the front porch

Which pretty much describes where I live, so it was fine. 

The house was beautiful. Clean. Well-kept. There were five bedrooms. We had five retreaters. Perfect. All five of us get along great, so sharing the three bathrooms was no problem at all.

My bedroom at the retreat house

The trees were bursting in autumn colors. Deer and chipmunks paid us regular visits. The weekend consisted of everyone catching up on our various writing adventures, eating, writing, sitting on the porch, eating, writing, workshopping our manuscripts, eating, writing, watching a webinar with Luci Zahray AKA The Poison Lady, eating, writing, drinking wine, and more writing. We did much of this in our pajamas or yoga pants.

Watching SinC's webinar with "The Poison Lady"

In other words, it was Writer’s Heaven. 

And in case you’re wondering why there are no photos of us, see the above sentence regarding attire. 

We started the retreat with a critique session Friday night. We’d sent pages in advance and gathered near the blazing fireplace to share our comments. It was fun to see what our little group was working on.

 

Our gathering spot for
retreat critiques

I led one short workshop on the Villain’s Story Saturday morning. It’s always gratifying when teaching something like this, to see everyone with their heads bent over their laptops and their fingers flying during the writing exercises. I thought it would inspire anyone who was stuck with their plots, and I think it did. 

I had set a goal for myself prior to heading to the retreat house and am happy to announce I surpassed it. 

That’s not to say I finished either manuscript #2 or manuscript #3, but I feel confident both deadlines will be met. 

After all, NaNoWriMo begins in a little over a week. 

Fellow readers and writers, have you ever taken part in a work-related retreat? Or a non-work-related one? Share your experiences, please.