The joy of a Writers' Retreat
On Monday I head off for my annual writers' retreat, a week spent in the beautiful landscape where the North Yorkshire Dales and the Pennines meet.
Next week will be my fifth or sixth visit to The Garsdale Retreat, a haven run by Rebecca and Hamish. Historically I usually pitch up with an idea as to what I’m going to work on, while at other times I simply ‘go with the flow’. During my first visit back in 2017 I wrote a short story which ended up being the catalyst for my collection Degrees of Separation. And 2023 was special because one evening I gave a ‘dress rehearsal’ performance of my poetic monologue Crash before its debut at the Ripon Theatre Festival that June.
For various reasons this year I’m going armed with something of ‘a menu’; a list of those things I’d like to achieve during my stay.
Current work-in-progress
High on the list is to start on the fifth edit for my current in-progress novel. Apart from one small section I need to draft between now and Monday, the whole thing is written. Edit five will be all about fine-tuning, ensuring logical consistency within the narrative, making sure there’s nothing ‘missing’ (and there may well be…). This process is unlikely to finish until mid-Summer — but it’s important to know I’ve at least nailed the opening (see ‘Competition entries’ below).
Short stories
I have two short stories which require a final edit, and — based on previous retreat experience — there’s a pretty good chance I’ll get an idea for at least one more during my stay, so some drafting may happen too!
Substack article(s)
I find it impossible to believe that I’ll spend a week not producing something for Writing until the light goes out! Maybe it will be no more than a progress update — but maybe not. Who can say?!
Something new?
As those of you who follow me will know, the desire to find the next major project is never far away — especially as my current w-i-p is likely to be winding down later this year. I have a bone or two of a new idea, and expect to spend some time next week seeing if I can locate a few more — or at least sufficient to resolve whether or not I can craft a skeleton from them and to which then potentially add vital organs, muscle and flesh…
Competition entries
There are a number of prose competitions I have on my radar, the deadlines for which are all at the end of May. Three are for short stories, but three others are for full-length novels and which require submission of the first 5k-8k words (hence my comment about nailing the opening, above). I doubt I’ll tick off all six next week, but being ready for one of the novel competitions means I’ll be ready for all three. The major outstanding item for each of these is a 300-500 word synopsis — which in many ways is harder than writing the actual novel! This is one of major priorities for the week.
Pricing adjustments
The theme of this last menu item is much more mundane. Once a year I review all the physical books produced under the Coverstory books imprint (both my own and others’ work) to check they are still earning their very small margins following on from printing price increases. Maintaining margins can using be achieved by slightly flexing wholesale discounts or, in one or two extreme cases, undertaking price rises* (which may also necessitate new back cover submissions). I have a list to work through; it’s not glamorous work, but it needs to be done. A ‘filler’ activity for the week.
*And this makes some of these current offers potentially even more attractive! (Sorry for the plug, but I have to try…!)
So there you have it. Mix all of the above with wonderful food, good walking, splendid and stimulating company — what’s not to look forward to!
Have a lovely abd well deserved break Ian!