Nano, nano! novel retreat and #writemotivation

Nano! Nano! Greetings from planet Ork!

What? Too obscure a pop culture reference for a Monday? Too young to remember Robin Williams’s first major role?

Shazbot!

I got off topic again.

I should be talking about NaNoWriMo and how I’m doing with my writing project for the month. I’m excited to see I’ve made some new buddies (you can be my buddy, too – just search for my user name: litbeing.) and that they’ve been hard at work. I’ve made a small dent with 2,400 unedited words on the page. I have some catch up to do. I took a break over the weekend to attend a novel revision retreat put on by our hard-working SCBWI Oklahoma crew.

What can I say? They are outstanding. Did they let a little thing like a hurricane trapping one editor at her home and wrecking the flight plans of another editor stop them? Oh, no! They kept their heads. Flight plans were changed, Skype sessions were set up, and the show was back on. Bravo to Andrew Harwell with HarperCollins Children’s Books and Alexandra Penfold with Paula Wiseman Books for sticking with us through such difficult times and still being so gracious and amazing throughout the entire weekend. You’ve won over some die hard fans for life.

I had an excellent face-to-face critique for my middle grade mystery story that I recently pulled out of a drawer. I came away with several great suggestions and an offer to submit it when I’m done making those changes. Nice! I also received wonderful ideas from my critique partners, who were the most delightful people and made the weekend so much fun.

I love writing retreats. They are more laid back than conferences, and they are just so good for my mental health. I need time away from my hectic, demanding life to wallow in the literary and talk about the world of books. It recharges my artist’s soul.

The Pictorial Tour

The view outside my room – love me some pines trees. Forget stealing towels; if these had been smaller – and I’d remembered my shovel…BAM! Souvenirs!

Here’s Mr. Harwell schooling us in Marketing.

Some of the lucky writers who attended this intimate retreat. I had such a fabulous time with you all!

My friend, Gwen, who came away from the retreat smiling.

Our fearless leader, Anna, stopping to talk with a young writer.

Hearing what others have to say about your work isn’t always easy. After two days of critiques, it was time for a pint at a local brewery.

My lovely critique partners. Cheers!

The guys in our group – the crazy looking one is The Jerry Bennett, the illustrator. He’s currently working on his first graphic novel and I’m going to be interviewing him on this blog soon, so stay tuned!

I don’t want to forget my #writemotivation family; you guys are going to get me through my rough draft this month, right? I know I’ll be there for you. I’m gonna need your help cause my family ravaged my emergency candy bowl while I was gone and it’s half empty.

Defilers!

My goals this month will mostly tie into keeping up with NaNoWriMo. I don’t think I need more than that – after all, I’m not completely insane.

Here they are:

1. Write at least 12,000 words on nanowrimo project each week.
2. Write blog post at least once a week.
3. Read and comment on other blogs.
4. Exercise four times a week.

Simple, yes? I hope so. Let’s go be creative.

Nano! Nano!