Writers Retreat

-

 Rachael and I are busy. Busy with work, busy with being moms, busy with family. And now busy trying to balance that with writing this book. With edits, with marketing. As I am sure you can relate on some level, it's hard sometimes. 

Trying to be present and give 100% to the thing that is in front of you at the moment, and still making that mental list of all the things that need to be done. Trying to take time for yourself and feeling guilty because there are so many things that you could be crossing off your list. 

What had started as a running joke had blossomed. But it can be hard, because of those other competing priorities, hard to put in the time to change this fun thing I was doing with my friend into an opportunity for something life changing. 

Enter the writers retreat.

Once we had a solid 25,000 words, Rachael and I knew that if we wanted to finish our book, it would take more than a few hours on a Friday or Saturday night. We knew that we needed focused time that we could read through, review and draft on what we had so far and plan next steps. 

So we took some time for ourselves, to give some time and put in some effort on what we had started. We had found we had lost some momentum over the winter. We needed to dive back in and really make a plan. 

We rented a hotel room for a weekend, we stayed local, kissed our kids goodbye and dug into our writing. Sure there may have been a few beverages, and a lot of laughs. I don't think we would have come this far had we not taken those couple of weekends to spend fully in the world we were creating. 

We came out of that focused time with fresh ideas, and a clearer plan forward. It paid off. 

Our first book, 'Yours, Always' Amber Falls Book 1 is due out in September. 

https://www.totallybound.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=71985



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Winter vs. Summer themes

-
I love the theme of hot and sultry summer nights and in romance novels there are so many steamy places to go, especially when the least amount of clothes can be worn and you're still decent. Or not decent. Let’s say semi-decent. However, I am a huge fan of Regency Romances. The longing, the wanting, being covered from head to toe. The flash of an ankle can cause heart palpitations. The winter scene and winter settings feel to me a lot like a Regency Romance. You’re bundled up, nary an inch of skin is showing, so when a glove is removed or a sweater comes off the sweet longing, reminiscent of my beloved Regency’s, comes to mind. There’s so much that can be done when you have cold weather and a fireside when all you want to do is cozy up under a blanket and get warm in any way possible, and possibly fall in love. My favorite Regency winter themed book is Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypass, a must read. Kim and I are currently writing book number two in our Amber Falls series. It’s a co...
Read more

Real Life Inspiration While Writing

-
I posted a super funny, to me, meme on our author Facebook page earlier this week about pulling real life inspirations into our novel. It makes me giggle because my brother’s name is Isaac. #sorryyouhadtodie  But it got me thinking about how often I use real life scenarios in my work. Do I do it a lot? Is it conscious on my end?  The answer is, as so many are in life, yes and no.  When coming up with names of characters, possibly one of the most stressful parts to me personally, I shied away from names of people I knew. It’s inevitable, especially with a writing partner, that a name you would not have chosen is in the mix, however. If there’s no reasonable objection (and believe me, some names were rejected with prejudice), there’s no harm/no foul with naming characters. I have found with scenes, or conversations within scenes, that I like to pull what’s happened or happening in my real life as inspiration. Writer's block is real, and I like to run through my day or wha...
Read more