Summary:

Now, that’s more like it for a writing week! I wrote every day, completing over 9000 words in total, and achieving tons on new original projects. Hurrah! The only problem is, I have very little available writing time for the rest of the year, so it’s going to be tricky to keep momentum.

 

Monday:

I managed to write 500 words of Celestial Intern on the train down to Exeter, then nearly two thousand more on my first afternoon at Retreats For You in Sheepwash, Devon. I booked to come here some time ago, but the owner’s husband sadly died the week before so my retreat understandably got cancelled. The business is now under new ownership, so I was looking forward to giving it a try, as an alternative for when my other go-to writing retreat isn’t running.

So far, so good!

 

Tuesday:

Reasonably slow start today, but I was at my desk and continuing with Celestial Intern by 10am, after a very interesting discussion about writing with some of the others over breakfast.

I took a break between writing stints to do some critiques on Scribophile, as I need to build up points before I can post anything new there for feedback.

I finished the first draft of Celestial Intern by lunchtime, which was awesome. I think it’s only the second original short story I’ve written this year, so I was very happy to get it out onto the page.

I also completed enough Scribophile critiques to build up the points required to post both parts of my story.

 

Wednesday:

I posted Celestial Intern to Scribophile, and went through the new edition of Writing Magazine to add upcoming submission opportunities to my rolling spreadsheet.

Then I finally cracked on with the new POV strand of Colours, which has been swirling around my brain for months and refusing to come out. I managed four scenes before lunch, which is a third of the strand.

I did a few more Scribophile critiques in an effort to get my story into the spotlight more quickly and build up points for the next one.

I also typed up the remaining notes from the last notebook I finished.

I took a look at my potential upcoming submission deadlines, and inspiration struck for a competition, so I wrote a new short piece in response to that.

I spent some time scouting around for places to send my currently unassigned stories, and added these to the spreadsheet.

 

Thursday:

I carried on with Scribophile critiques – I’d forgotten how much work it is to get enough points to post and then get stories into the main spotlight for feedback.

I read all the information for a really interesting competition I discovered in Writing Magazine yesterday, then brainstormed some notes for my entry, based on an excellent idea my husband sent me last night.

Then I did a review of the book I finished yesterday.

After lunch, I carried on with the Colours POV strand, completing another four scenes.

Then I started, and actually finished, the first draft of the competition story. I had built up another five points on Scribophile throughout the day, so I posted it on there to get feedback after the Celestial Intern story had had its turn.

I finished off by going back to the never-ending Scribophile critiques.

 

Friday:

Last morning in Sheepwash so I got up early to make the most of my remaining time.

I started off by writing the last four scenes for the new POV strand in Colours, thus completing the second of the main projects I wanted to work on while on retreat (after Celestial Intern).

Then I did a couple more Scribophile critiques, as my story were still quite a long way from the spotlight.

I was incredibly pleased with my productivity while on retreat – the two main projects completed, and two whole new stories written, neither of which were even on my radar when I arrived on Monday!

 

Saturday:

Back home, but still enthused.

I wrote a review of another book I finished earlier in the week.

I also helped Bear post his account of the writing retreat, and wrote my own blog post about it.

 

Sunday:

I took it easy today and just wrote two reviews – one of a film and one of a book.