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Instead of a beach in a box like this cat, my friends and I have a real beach complete with sand and waves. We're a couple blocks from the water. What more could we want? Well, except more chocolate. And more pages. And more time here...
If you want to know more about what we've been up to, Jenna wrote a great recap of your first day of the writing retreat here. And here is her recap of day two. She has more pics than I do!
I'm so glad we did!
Imagine a casino bingo parlor filled with Wheel of Fortune fans (minus the few like me who went along just because.) It was freaking hilarious. I'm not kidding. Much better than any of the shows I've ever seen.
The host, Marty, and the Vanna White wannabe whose name escapes me were very funny. But the best part were the people from the audience who were selected to "try out." As soon as their names were called they ran to the stage ala "Price is Right." They were taken backstage then led to the front where they sat in chairs. Then, in groups of five, they stood and individually interviewed by Marty.
Not funny, right? Except something happened to these people. It was as if the disembodied personality of a game show contestant was floating above the stage. As soon as the person stood next to Marty with a microphone in front of their face, this "game show persona" erupted. All but a handful had the exact same personality. I wondered if they'd practiced this at home.I don't watch game shows so maybe they all do and just knew this was what it takes to be selected to be a contestant. But it was both bizarre and fascinating and utterly hilarious. I had to wonder what Marty, the host, thought of all this. He was very quick with the comebacks. In fact they were zinging back and forth at lightning speed.
We also got to see a belly dancer, an air guitarist and two men who danced. Not exactly pee-your-pants funny, but definitely laugh-out-loud-this-would-have-been-worth-paying-a-couple-of-bucks-for funny.Alas, Terri, Jenna and I were not called to tryout. We weren't alone. But unlike the hundreds who left after the last five contestants were called to get in line again for the next tryout, we opted for a late lunch at the casino. We sat in the seafood restaurant in a window seat, enjoying the view and eating. Jenna called it "lunner" since it was to be our lunch and dinner.
Back home we wrote for a few more hours before pulling out another set of DVDs to watch about writing craft. I fell alseep during part of one. It was just too dry and a bit out there for me. I wanted something more concrete and readily adaptable to romances without much fiddling or tweaking, but that's just the engineer in me.
Unfortunately that meant my external journey (i.e. the Outer Conflict) of my story remained a mess. So even though it was late, I put on one of the workshops from RWA NYC and we listened to that. That helped, but I still wasn't there. (Remember, I'm working on a continuity so this isn't my story or characters.) Jenna and Terri, being the great friends and writers they are, helped me figure out a few things. Yay team!
This morning I'm going to see how it all fits together as I jump back into writing the new proposal.
Not that we'll have that much time. Our weekend writers retreat is almost over. (Insert tears and sniffles here.) We have to check out of the beach house at noon today.
I will be happy to see hubby, kidlets, cats and dog. Mackenna sent me a text saying the cats really missed me, especially Yoda. I miss the family, but I've gotten so much out of this time away. I feel recharged and refresh. The well is no longer empty! I just hope I can get away like this again!
What are you up to today?
