8 Reasons I'm Looking Forward to This Week

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A couple of weeks ago, the college where I teach announced a virtual writing retreat for any instructors/professors who wanted to participate.

I might have been the first one to sign up.

Today, it starts.

When we got the materials last week, I got a look at the list of participants and discovered that most of my colleagues in the psych department are participating.

One more way I know I'm in the right place.

While I was not looking forward to starting at 9 AM (which is usually before I roll out of bed, night owl that I am), wild horses could not have kept me from this retreat. Here are a few reasons why.

1. I need an opportunity to rid my writing of clichés like the one above.
2. Five whole days where writing is exactly what I'm supposed to be doing.
3. I need to get my mojo, which was stolen by recent events, back, and get myself into a writing routine.
4. I get to connect with colleagues in a whole new way, which usually means I'll learn a thing or two -- at least.
5. Full immersion in writing is often my best path to creativity and new ideas.
6. With five whole days to work, I'm bound to eventually attack the revisions I detest.
7. Accountability!
8. Oh, and I get a free book :-)

   

   CryptoSkylark via Pixabay

In preparation for this, I've set up a notebook with all of my writing projects listed, along with where to find them in the nooks and crannies of my office. That way, I can flip seamlessly from one project to another if I wish.

I can't wait to get started!

Inspired by this retreat, the theme of the week here on the porch swing is productivity. Suggestions? Celebrations of your own productivity? Leave me a note in the comments.

Happy Monday!

A Writing Home Away from Home

Kaboompics

I have decided that I need a beach writing retreat. There's something about the beach that routinely gets me unstuck. Maybe it's simply the change in location and daily routine. Maybe it's the feeling of endless possibility.

Maybe it's the fact that the only non-human distractions I have are the ones I intentionally bring with me. When I pack my bag with good books, fun magazines and everything I need to write, it's not hard to get inspired.

But, while I can rationalize paying for a week at the beach when it's a family vacation, or paying hundreds of dollars for a writing conference that gives me access to experts, I cheap out when it comes to planning a writing retreat, tossing out all sorts of obstacles: I have too much to do. I can't spare the time. My family needs me.

Now, though, as I sit on the beach writing this post, I wonder why I don't plan a retreat every year the way I plan a vacation. Set the dates. Make the plans. Save the money.

Why indeed.

Maybe this year is the year I'll do it. Choose the spot (done). Check the fees. Determine the cast of characters.

Three weeks ago, my nineteen-year-old planned a beach trip with her friends. How hard can it be?

I think perhaps it's time I found out. Writer friends, who's with me?

On the Cusp

There was one table left beside the cream and sugar station with a lone chair as its companion when I arrived at "my" Starbucks with my laptop slung over my shoulder around noon. The cushy chairs at the back, the ones I'd taken over when I did my book signing here, were all available, but today I was here to work.

The spring semester is drawing to a close, and I can feel the shift in my priorities. Class planning is still at the top of the list, but with only one class left before finals week, it doesn't feel as urgent. Writing is finding its way back in, and as much as I enjoy teaching, I am looking forward to readjusting the balance for a few months, putting my writing first instead of squeezing it into nooks and crannies.

Today is a social day, too. I met out-of-town friends for breakfast at Panera (rather than at my house which is suffering from end-of-semester paper clutter disorder) and am meeting another friend -- a retired teacher -- for lunch in less than an hour. I do some of my best work in these in-between time slots. I know I have a deadline and that increases my determination to accomplish something so I can check it off my list and enjoy my social engagement without that nagging feeling that I should be doing something else.

I was a little worried that the transition out of spring semester and into summer would be challenging -- that I'd decide I deserved a break before moving into summer writing mode and I would lose valuable writing time to the need for downtime. Fortunately, a succession of writing events -- Lancaster Christian Writers' Super Saturday in April, my writing retreat last weekend and the Pennwriters retreat in two weeks -- are creating a smooth transition for me, along with a delicious sense of anticipation. Coming home from the retreat to an article sale (an article I polished at the retreat), a guest blog post (also polished at the retreat) and the news that I'd won a free hour of author coaching in the drawing I'd entered on Super Saturday certainly didn't hurt my motivation.

Leaving a sure thing for the promise of something new two years ago is one of the scariest things I've ever done. I knew I could do the work-at-home thing -- I'd been doing it as a writer for years -- but there were so many unknowns, including the question of whether I'd maintain my momentum or fall prey to a leisurely pace that hindered my progress because the time pressures I was used to had been lifted.

The pace in the past year has been far from leisurely, and most days, I like it that way. I achieve balance most weeks, too: a combination of writing, teaching and seeing friends so I don't become a hermit or a workaholic. I am, however, looking forward to the longer stretches of time that summer affords, knowing they will allow me to think rather than just to do. I have a number of writing projects cooking, so to speak, and I need some quiet time to decide where to turn up the heat and what to let simmer.

And this time, I'm not in a hurry to get out of the kitchen.