Reading Time: 2 Minutes
I did a thing. I’ve booked myself away on a writing retreat.
It has been an embarrassingly long time since I’ve picked up my WIP, but I’ve been thinking a lot about it lately and getting excited to actually get back into it.
I have over 51 000 words written.
I have the next five chapters plotted out in detail which will get me out of the muddy middle and into the home stretch, and I know roughly how this will all end.
I have a one-page outline written and have been keeping a chapter summary logged to date. Even better, I have a one-page outline written for each of the next four books in the series as well, should this stand-alone first manuscript get published. Lots of world building to flesh out in the first edit, but I need a draft to edit, first.
What I’ve lacked is the discipline, the will to find the time to crack at it. I’ve been distracted – by work, by life, by travel, by other creative ideas…
But this, my WIP, the thing I poured my heart into when I first started it… I’ve just… stalled.
September is an insane month for me with work. Four conferences in three cities across eleven days straight, I’m going to be burnt out. I love what I do and can’t wait for these events, and I love the travel and the people I’ll be with, but being “on” for eleven days will wear anyone out.
So a couple weeks after it all ends, I’ve booked some away time just for me.
Nobody else.
No partner, no child, no TV, no wifi, no running water, no distractions; I’ve booked four nights in a cabin in the middle of the woods for $75 a night.
It’s one room. Cosy. A bed, a chair and a desk in front of a window facing out into the forest. Enough electricity to charge a laptop, cell service for the phone if needed, but the phone will stay in the car.
Trails to explore – I like to walk as I plot out the next few chapters – and the sound of a nearby creek to fall asleep to.
A fire pit at night and just me, my thoughts and my manuscript.
I can’t wait for the quiet.
I can’t wait for the time with myself.
I can’t wait to be in a place where all I have to be is the person who needs to finish writing his book.