Planning a Writers' Retreat

Around a month ago, I received an email from a cruise line company with fares so low, my mouth dropped. I happened to be talking to my friend online at the time, and mentioned the price in passing for the 4-day weekend cruise. I joked with her that we should go on a writing cruise, and she jumped at the idea. Spending four days on a boat stuck in the middle of the ocean, eating and drinking all day with our laptops on our laps sounded like heaven.

Unfortunately, the dates of the cruise didn't work with our schedules, but the seed was planted for a writers' retreat. Yesterday we booked a beautiful Bed and Breakfast, with an amazing garden, in Solvang, CA for three days. Solvang is a sleepy Danish town tucked away in the San Ynez Valley in Santa Barbara County about two and a half hours outside of Los Angeles. Rolling hills surround the town that is known for great food, bakeries and candle making.

This will be my first experience traveling to write. I can't explain to you how excited I am, yet also leery. Leery? Scared? It's not the travel, or staying in a Bed and Breakfast for the first time, it's the fear of having writer's block. The trepidation of sitting the whole weekend starting at a blank screen, wasting away in a chair and having nothing to show for the weekend.

I plan to start my new story, Parlor, while there. In the next two weeks (the trip is May 1-3), I hope to have the lore and basic plot down so that I have no excuses.

For those of you who have planned a trip around writing, how did you make sure you were fully prepared when you got there?

Stepping Out of the Real World

Thanks to the people who commented in last week’s post! Since the vote was unanimous, I’ve now jumped into the world of juggling two stories. While Lost and Found is set in the real world, my new story (right now I’m calling it Parlor) is set in a split universe- despite the world being what we know today, there are paranormal aspects. This is a new road for me, as everything I’ve written up to this point could easily happen in the real world.

I’ve found myself staring at my plot notes for Parlor, not knowing what direction I want to move the world into. Instead of just focusing on the plot, I must build a world that all characters can live cohesively. There are too many possibilities at my fingertips since the universe has no written rules. I don’t have the sticking point of “that can’t really happen” holding me back. It’s exhilarating, yet scary all at the same time.

As I venture into the paranormal world of teen fiction, I wonder just how far I will let myself go. I still want to hold on to real world aspects, but at what point does the fantasy part of the universe I’ve created feel haphazardly stuck on? When do people start to get pulled out of the world the author has created, saying “That can never happen” before putting the book down for good?