Welcome to Open Book Blog Hop. You can find us every Monday talking about the writing life. I hope you'll check out all the posts: you'll find the links at the bottom of this post.
How do you get ready for a long writing session?______________________
Well, first I get down the suitcase.
I kid.
Well, sort of.
I'm a writer with a day job, two rescue dogs, and a teenager still at home. It's a struggle to get writing time, and I do a lot of my writing work in 10-20 minute stretches wherever and whenever I can shoe-horn them in.
So a "long writing session" feels like some kind of mythological creature to me most of the time.
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A long session at home is maybe an hour, so really, my preparation is closing the door and making sure I brought a cup of tea or glass of water in there with me.
Most summers, though, I do manage a writing retreat of several days. My critique group and I rent a house together and share the meal prep so that all of us can get lovely, long swaths of writing time. So, preparation for that does begin with getting down the suitcase.
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| Writing on the deck in 2019 with one of my critique partners. |
I feel so spoiled when I'm able to get three or four days in a row where my main responsibility is the creation of words on the page. And you can bet I make full use of that time! I understand the sacrifice my husband is taking on in managing all our busy household all alone for the interim.
You know what, though? Even when I have all day, I still write in one hour chunks…I just have more of them!
I'd love to go on a retreat, it would beat dictating notes into my phone while I'm doing something else.
ReplyDeleteA writing retreat sounds marvelous.
ReplyDeleteI've never been on a retreat. There's one near us in the next village. Perhaps I ought to book myself in!
ReplyDeleteA writing retreat where all I need to do is write? It's like the ancient Greek philosophers. All they had to do was think. The rest of their needs were taken care of by others. Lucky them! Great post, Samantha! Love the three-headed dog.
ReplyDeleteWe all seem to have the same thought - oh how lovely a writing retreat where I can just write and write.
ReplyDeleteI don't always have long writing sessions either. I don't even really think about the time. I just want to make some progress.
ReplyDelete