The picture of the frog does have something to do with this blog. Read on and find out.
I returned home a week ago from the ANWA Writers Retreat. It was amazing. Three days of being surrounded by women writers of my same beliefs. If you’re a writer, you know how wonderful it is to have heart to heart talks with other writers.
They get it.
They get that characters talk in your head and sometimes you have to get out of bed to jot down what they are saying or doing.
They get it that some of your characters won’t leave you alone until you write about them even though you’re working on a different story.
They get that sometimes you are so deeply involved in your story that half the night’s gone before you climb into bed.
They know that a WIP is not “whip” misspelled but a Work In Progress.
They now that POV stands for point of view.
They know the rest of the lingo including things like; protagonist, antagonist, query, homonyms, synonyms, emotional curve, hooks, pacing and info dump.
Writers are proud of their rejection letters and even host contest to see who has received the most in one year.
Writers know all about the angst of getting a character out of horribly tough situations that they themselves put them in.
Yes, it was fabulous to be with ladies writers that walk the walk and talk the talk and write the words. Thank you my dear writing friends of ANWA. What a glorious time it was to be with you.
Now, about that frog. It rained --no poured and flooded the "Bunk House" downstairs on Friday at the Retreat. Krista, Tiffany, Siciley and I had a blast (okay maybe that's stretching it) scooping and tossing buckets of the wet stuff from the window well amongst all the BLACK WIDOW SPIDERS! We slogged back into the cabin soaked to the skin, chilled to the bones and a wee bit exhausted. Lovely Anna had fixed us hot chocolate by melting some of the chocolate from the goodies table. I thought our trials were over. Alas . . . it was not to be. In the middle of the night I woke up to thumping on the walls in my room. I knew there must be some creepy murdering type character out in the hall, but had too much pride to call out for help. After all, the ever famous Janette Rallison, Donna Hatch, Sarah Eden and Carroll Morris were just across the hall. I had to save some face. I really think I just didn't want to end up in one of their books so I mustered all of my inner bravery, and turned on the bed side lamp. There was a little three inch frog jumping up and down, trying to find his way out. Only thing I can figure is that the frogs were seeking higher and dryer ground. Rather than wake any of the others, I went on a frog hunt. Thank goodness they weren't BLACK WIDOWS or I would have made Aimee handle them. Frogs are actually kind of cute.
Hoppy writing. Waa Waa Waa
I loved your frog. I bet he was cute. Sorry to hear you ladies had to bail water out of your bedroom but what a wonderful spirit you showed in dealing with the swamp.
ReplyDeleteThanks Susan, it was actually quite lovely being out in the rain and working. I always loved playing in the rain as a child, and this was much like it. The ladies all pulled together. The sisters if ANWA ROCK!
ReplyDeleteRetreat was great! Thanks for the recap--and all your hard work.
ReplyDeleteWell, sounds like you had some adventures to write about ;)
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