A while ago, Danielle, Elaine and I went to a writing retreat unlike any we'd done previously. There was great food, peace and quiet and a challenge to think differently about our writing. Tangled up in Blue was born. Fast forward to September last year, and another rural trip, this time to the towns where the book was set, and our stories were written and ready to be integrated into a single timeline. Tangled up in Blue releases Spring 2020 in print and ebook, and Danielle, Elaine and I are very excited. July-August-September is what I call my "refilling the well" season - I have a big day job conference that I work towards all year, then the annual Romance Writers of Australia conference and I fit in a writing retreat as well. So heaps of travel, food and friends. It's frantic - I had a one day turn around between the day job conference and the RWA conference - essentially tipped my suitcase contents into the washing machine, onto the line, and then back into the case. My highlights: Catching up with my two buddies Nikki and Dan - both in Perth during the day-job conference and a week later at RWA. We've done a bit of work together (all online) so it was nice to catch up for real. Shared a special moment in relation to that project and wished this Moet bottle was for real. Romance Writers of Australia - Melbourne 2019 conference - was awesome as always. As I have developed as a writer, my workshop needs have changed and now I am more likely to be in an editing workshop, a self-publishing workshop or a specialised topic, rather than general romance writing. Every year, I come home with lightbulb moments, and energised by spending time with my writing buddies. This year the weather was attrocious - hail at 10am, windy, so I didn't get out much, but I did get to the Terracotta Warriors exhibit at the National Gallery of Victoria. While the warriors were the focus, the complementary artwork - both sculpted and painted - was breathtaking. My last trip was a visit to the beautiful Bunya Mountains for a writing retreat. I've connected with a new group of Brisbane based writers and we are now annual retreaters - but with a difference. We use "Varuna rules". So we travel up together, have dinner together, and generally ignore one another during the day while we work, and again after 10pm. (If you're interested in Varuna and how it structures retreats, check the Varuna webpage for their residency FAQs).
This year, I was lucky enough to share with two other writers who've been working with me on a combined project and we spent the weekend sharing our manuscripts for continuity. It's fascinating how the stories have come together in our "shared world" and I cannot wait to get these works ready for publication. Awesome house, awesome views, awesome wildlife. Bunya Mountains is pet free for visitors, so its been a long time since I'd visited, and I wished I could have a week up there - the house was well set up for it. The only downers were the threat of bushfire, made worse by the howling wind, and the loss of writing time from the drive - It's a bit too far for a 3 day working retreat - so next time it might have to be four days. But all in all, a productive and fun weekend. Disappointment is the gap that occurs when reality doesn't meet your expectations. Recently we went to the mountains - we wanted cold weather, we wanted to sit around a roaring fire drinking hot chocolate. First up we did our prep work and we had our ducks (firewood) all in a row. The hot chocolate and marshmallows were on standby. Our manuscripts and red pens were ready to go. Everyone had a picture in their mind how it would be. (Here's mine above) Then... this happened. We went to load the timber into the fireplace, and look what we found.(Scroll back up and you will see the note in behind the glass.)
Nooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It reminded me of the submission process for manuscripts - and no-one explains this well to beginner writers. You can do the work, you can do your homework about what lines the publisher is interested in, you can write the best book you can write, and when you submit, it isn't what the publisher is looking for. Or what that person, at that publisher, on that day is looking for, to quote my favourite editor of all time. It doesn't make it a bad book. It just means it isn't the book for them. It's ok to be disappointed, so long as you get back up, review that manuscript and send it out to someone else. Of course, our disappointment over the fireplace was short lived. It wasn't that cold, I had a sensational hand-knit scarf keeping my neck warm and we still had hot chocolate. However we're hopeful the repairs will be done by the next time we visit. What fabulous experiences awaited us at the new venue for the Hells Belles annual writer's retreat? Spectacular views - tick Country Air - tick Fabulous food - tick Writing workshops - tick Blocks of writing time - tick And most importantly, the Hells Belles (photo below), who inspired, motivated, brainstormed, workshopped, morning walked, sunrise watched and talked writing for three whole days. It was bliss. I can't wait to go again next year. PS - In case you're wondering, I'm Galaxy Belle
PPS - A big thank you to Danielle Birch for the mugs Imagine its five years into the future, and for whatever reason, you haven't seen the writers in your writing group for five whole years - no contact at all. Your reunion is on 13th May 2021. Tell them how your career/life is progressing.
The first time I did this, at my writing group's annual retreat, it was an incredibly powerful experience. I took all the manuscripts I'd done work on and a few ideas from my ideas file, decided who my publisher would be, made covers for those books, and arrived at the reunion with "copies" of my books and wearing a ring no-one had seen before - the reward for all my hard work. And, you know, that was the single most motivational experience of my writing career to date. For the first time, I could "see" my book. Others in the group had retired to write full time, or had dropped their hours to work on their writing. There were trips to Tuscany, life-changing adventures and a whole heap of other dreams and aspirations. You know what? Everyone in our group who visualised publication that night, has achieved it. What started as a bit of fun ended up being a very potent goal setting tool. The next visualised reunion is May 13th 2021. What will I have achieved by then? Did you notice I took a bit of a break from the old social media? Or as I called it in April "Anti-social media". My newsfeed, usually devoid of negativity, suffered three times with what I can only describe as "haters". It wasn't directed at me, but several close friends tried to intervene and it was not pretty. Cue the "unlike" and "unfollow" buttons. Anyway, I'm back now, all refreshed from our annual writing retreat in Caloundra. Take writers from different genres - romantic suspense, male-male contemporary and futuristic, sci-fi/fuuristic romance and contemporary (me), dark contemporary and world war one real life, throw them in a three bedroom apartment and see what happens. My favourite bits: The view from our apartment. Of course, what this photo doesn't show is the frigid winds blowing up from Antarctica that meant we didn't sit on the balcony at all this year. (and its true, I may have bought a lap blanket...) Sunrises and sunsets - I love to be out walking when the sun comes up, and again at sunset. Sometimes suburban life doesn't let me. Writing... Need I say more. I got close to 6000 words, a lot of plotting, planning and thinking done. And as a group we plotted out three novels using the paper tablecloths at the local Italian restaurant during dinner. Gold!
I'm refreshed, revitalised and ready to write. |
Fiona Greene AuthorWhen you set out on a journey and night falls, that's when you will discover the stars." Archives
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