The writing retreat was a pure delight, and I managed to make the most of my time.  I feel inspired and motivated.

I stocked my little cabin with food, so that I wouldn’t have to leave to go out to eat.  I closed my email and kept the TV off to help prevent distractions.  I was tossing around the idea of starting a new story (There are several ideas that have been brewing around in my head that I eventually want to write.) or continuing with the ambitious novel that I started last year.  As I read through what I had already written, I was able to easily throw myself back into my first story, so that was the natural choice.  I reworked some of what I had already written, and I managed to write three new chapters for the fantasy novel that I started last year.

I was so inspired by this story idea in the beginning, and my characters began to consume much of my waking and sleeping thoughts.  I had momentum and was producing, and the initial chapters received good feedback from my critique group.  However, a few months into it, I veered off course while researching and writing the nonfiction book that was published last year.  It was certainly a fulfilling and worthwhile diversion, but it is also a relief to have that project completed and to be able to return to my fiction.

My goal is to finish this novel by the end of the year and work on edits and rewrites, so that I can start submitting it to agents.  That’ll be a time consuming job in and of itself.  For now, I am about a quarter of the way through the first draft, and I intend to keep at every chance I get.