My Ideal Writing Weekend
July 21, 2008 by Lillie
Emma Bird and Joanna Young at Absorbing Writing: Writing Workshops In Italy are soliciting input in planning their next writing workshop.
Tell us about the ingredients of your ideal writing weekend. That might be a weekend you’ve already enjoyed, one that you’ve got planned, or one that you’re hoping to take part in, some day.
My ideal writing weekend is one that I’ve already spent. It actually wasn’t a weekend (but it could have been), and my time was spent editing rather than writing. I had written and revised the novel Dream or Destiny, and it was ready for the final round of editing. However, my freelance workload had increased to the point that I couldn’t seem to find time for fiction, and the manuscript had been waiting for attention for a very long time.
EPIC, the Electronically Published Internet Connection held a weekend event in Las Vegas. I traveled and shared a suite with friends – a delightful husband and wife romance writing team. Billie and Herb have been happily married for more than half a century and write under the name of Barri Bryan. We decided to stay in Vegas a few extra days.
After the conference, Billie and Herb spent the days having fun. I holed up in the hotel room and edited. My story and I were alone all day with no distractions. At night, I joined Billie and Herb for dinner and a show or a visit to the casino. Frankly, I’m not much of a gambler, and Las Vegas isn’t my favorite place in the world. Perhaps that contributed to the ideal writing experience. I wan’t tempted to spend all day in the casino – a few hours in the evenings were plenty. What made the experience ideal were the days totally focused on writing interspersed with good times with good friends. By the time we returned to San Antonio, Dream or Destiny was ready to submit to a publisher.
Of course, when the novel was accepted by GASLight Publishing, LLC, there were several more rounds of editing. Publication has been delayed because of the publisher’s health issues, and it wasn’t released in June as anticipated. However, things are back on track now, and I hope to announce a release date soon.
Lillie, that sounds like a delicious opportunity to lose yourself in words and writing – and a good story to boot.
Thanks for taking part
Joanna
Lillie, I have to agree with Joanna here, it sounds like a wonderful yet very productive writing weekend. To be honest, I never thought of Vegas as a distraction free city, but reading through your story I don’t really get the full time distraction part. I’m also not a fan of gambling and I’d get bored of casinos instantly
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Hi Lillie – It sounds like it really was worth your while to attend that event.
My favourite writing event was an Arvon Foundation one. I’ve been on two but I preferred the second one on writing a novel.
The things I enjoyed most about it were – the brilliant tutors and students, the peace and quiet – no TV, Internet, or other distractions and plenty of time to write.
If I could have changed one thing – it would have been the evening talks – I found those tiring and would have preferred to get up early to write.
Italy sounds like a lovely place to do a writing course though – maybe next year.
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Lillie, like you, I am not a gambler. I have no desire to visit Las Vegas. But it sounds as if the weekend, as a whole, provided you with all that you needed, so who can complain? Billie and Herb sound like lovely people.
And I adore the idea of writing in Italy……..
Alina,
If I had left that hotel room, there would have been distractions all around. But when I was sitting at the table in the living room of that suite, I was in a totally isolated world – just me and my characters.
Cath,
This comment is a good start on your own post. Why don’t you post it and enter it?
Your point:
“…What made the experience ideal were the days totally focused on writing interspersed with good times with good friends. …”
Friends make the world rock.
Sounds like you had a wonderful time,
Barbara
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Barbara,
You’re right – the evenings with friends motivated me during the days of work.
Lillie, First congrats on getting your novel Dream or Destiny published. I’ll be watching for the release date.
I’m not much of a gambler either, mainly because I’m so bad at it. But still, a weekend in Vegas would distract me too much. I think the perfect writing weekend for me would be in a little cottage on a quiet beach in Hawaii with a perfect few of the ocean and no one around to bother me. I can dream can’t I?
Although, locking myself in a hotel room at a conference might work, too. Especially if the room service was good. Cheers!
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Stonewriter,
I don’t know … that view of the ocean might be too tempting – calling me outside. But you said the essential point – “no one around to bother me.” In a quiet hotel room by myself it didn’t matter if I was in Vegas or outer-nowhere.
Writing is the best therapy!
Congratulations! That’s awesome. I become a hotel room junky when I’m in Vegas too. I like to get out and explore, but there is just something about being in a quiet hotel room that you can’t replace.
Anna,
You are so right about writing being great therapy. Writing my first novel helped me recover from a stroke.
That was a good weekend writing experienced you had lilie. Travelling and having a good time after the event you’ve attended. Indeed, it contributed a lot on your written and editing taks. I wish you luck on your writing passion.
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Yes, it was a great experience. Thank you for the good wishes.
Lillie, I anxiously await the release of your novel! When I lived in CA, I visited Vegas 4-6 times per year. I don’t gamble either but beyond the strip there are a world of things to do. I think your combination would work for any of us, it is simply removing yourself from distraction and spending time with our story. When you intersperse that with fun, it does sound like the perfect weekend! Thank you so much for sharing this experience. I’m praying for a speedy recovery for your publisher and great success for your book.
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Thank you, Karen. I’ll announce the release date of my novel as soon as I know it.
I am keen to read the novel and your post creates an excitement in me. I like that lifestyle(all your LA story) except Casinos.
I don’t enjoy spending much time in the casinos, but a little bit was fun – especially with my friends. Keep reading my blog, and I’ll announce when my book is available.
lillie u’ve written great
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Thank you, Tom.
I also tend to spend as much as possible free time with my friends and in different activities, because it frees my mind, and helps me a lot to focus on work.
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To be honest, I never thought of Vegas as a distraction free city, but reading through your story I don’t really get the full time distraction part. I’m also not a fan of gambling and I’d get bored of casinos instantly.
This is great! It sounds so relaxing and fun. I am always looking for new creative places to write because my home office just gets boring sometimes.
Thanks again!
Vegas was distraction-free for me during the days because I was holed up in a hotel room … just me and my story. I could have been anywhere at all in any anonymous hotel room. The only reason I happened to be in Vegas was because I was already there for a conference.
Joe,
It was relaxing and fun because I had the time to enjoy myself with friends. But the writing days were intense, so the unwinding afterwards was especially nice.
publisher’s health issues??
that is weird
is it the publisher who prints the stuff??
I think it is the staff who prints the book and if the publisher is not well then that doesn’t mean the complete company stops working
That would be the case if I were dealing with a huge New York conglomerate, but my publisher is a small, family-owned operation where everyone wears several hats. The publisher is also my editor, so that’s why the book fell behind schedule.
yeah i agree, writing makes me happy..
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Just being able to focus on nothing but writing is a treat.
Lillie, the same thing happened to a friend of mine, and it was not a family owned publishing house. The publisher fell ill and it delayed publication.The book was published and quite successful. Not sure how it works with the very large NY agencies but suspect it is the same. Some books are killed when a publisher leaves the agency.
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Karen,
Thanks for that encouraging story. It’s true that personnel changes at publishing houses make a difference in whether a book gets published or not. The replacement person may not be as enthusiastic about the book as the original. Also, changes in corporate budgets and marketing plans affect individual books. Nothing is guaranteed until the book is actually published. My book is back on track, and I’m confident I’ll have a release date soon.
My ideal weekend writing vacation would be to just sit back and listen to some music and have a cup of coffee…….
And of course there should be pen and paper too.
Yeah, you’d better have the pen and paper or you wouldn’t get much writing done.
Writing relaxes me. I went to Australia for 3 weeks last summer and spent most of my time on a beach with a pen and a paper.
Tutoring (if you wrote YourName@Keywords, I could address you as a real person, and you would still get your keyword link),
Writing can be relaxing when you do it for yourself. It can be stressful when you’re under deadline on a not-so-interesting project of writing material for someone else.
Fortunately, most of my work is very interesting … not necessarily relaxing, but interesting and fun.
I wish I had that much time to relax and write … it seems the biggest stumbling block as a writer seems to be having to make time to do it.
TutorMatch
I’m beginning to wonder if we don’t need to provide tutors for people promoting tutoring services.
You and the last commenter are in the same business (could be the same person with two different Web sites in the same industry), yet neither of you read the note asking that you provide a name. Or if you read it, you don’t have the courtesy to respect my wishes and include your name. I am coming very close to refusing to allow comments without a name.
Regarding the writing weekend, it was wonderful to focus on writing. It was definitely NOT relaxing. Anyone who writes to relax is writing as a hobby. Anyone who writes as a vocation does not find it relaxing. We may love it … but it’s hard work.
So often I have people telling me they wish they had time to write. When I ask them about their habits, they watch TV for several hours every night or go out for entertainment on the weekends. I choose to read or write rather than watch TV or go to movies or sports events or other entertainment. We all have the same number of hours in the day; we choose how we spend them.
Serious writers who have extremely busy schedules give up sleep or their lunch hour or sacrifice other things that are important to them in order to have time to write. If you don’t make writing a priority in your life, you aren’t a writer.
OK—getting off my soapbox now.
I am all in favor of people who want to write for relaxation as as a hobby to do so. But I would never tell someone who provides tutoring services that I wish I had time to relax and help kids learn. That is a vocation (whether part-time or full-time), and I respect that.
Thanks for the opportunity to recall this happy memory, Joanna. I’d love to join you in Italy if my health allowed.
Yes, that weekend was lovely. I could have done the same thing anywhere – just change the evening’s entertainment to fit wherever I was. Vegas worked because that’s where we were.
It’s strange that you can be totally alone in a hotel room in a huge hotel filled with noisy people. But with the curtains drawn, you’re in another world.
Marrie,
Spending time with friends and other activities is great … as long as you spending time working in between the other activities.