Two friends and I are meeting this week for a mini-writers retreat. It’s not at a B&B, scheduled by some entity with time built in for socializing, writing, and critiquing–all on someone else’s schedule. And it’s not a conference.
We have an agenda. I’m personally planning to finish plotting a full-length novel and discuss synopses for my now complete novellas set in 1958 Las Vegas (I mentioned those a couple of months ago).
We’re literally meeting at a hotel nearby to create writing synergy. Synergy is one of those business buzz-words overused so much it’s lost its meaning, but it does have a definition.
Synergy, according to dictionary.com, means:
the interaction of elements that when combined produce a total effect that is greater than the sum of the individual elements, contributions, etc.
What happens, when writers get together to brainstorm and share ideas and energy, is nothing short of amazing. Work gets finished in half the time and it’s of better quality than what one writer could produce alone.
I’m struggling to describe the phenomenon, so instead I promise to tell you next month what the three of us accomplished in our four days together.
See you next month!
If you’ve experienced something similar, please post about it in the comments. And, if not, consider getting together with few writing friends, even for one dedicated day, to see what you can accomplish.
This is a fantastic idea and I wish you the very best. I can attest that it works, too. Three crit partners and I had a favorite small hotel we’d ‘retreat’ to a couple times a year and we got a tremendous amount of work done. We were there to work, although, of course, we had breaks where we had fun, too, but we had goals for the weekend that we stuck to. Good luck and do let us know how your session works out.
Right now, we’re so far-flung we can only do this once a year, but I’m very grateful for that opportunity. Sounds like you had a spectacular crew.
Thanks so much for commenting!
Lori Sizemore recently posted…Weekly Tweets on All Things Writing
Never done any sort of writer’s re-treat. Sounds like it would be a blast! Hope you have a great time and get lots done!
Kinsey Corwin recently posted…Hello, Hank James! Copper Moon’s Hero
I’m all packed up and ready to leave in the morning and I’m so excited! Thanks!
Wow…so sorry that it took me so long to comment…now I realize just how bad my computer was acting because I had commented. Sigh.
We used to do them yearly with my RWA group…a very long time ago…we’d rent a room at a casino and then four of us would commit to a long weekend of writing and brainstorming. We loved to do them then and your blog has brought up just how important they can be.
I love these type of happenings because they are fun, inspiring and you get things done.
Great post!
Lynn Crain recently posted…Sexy in Time ~ @oddlynn3 #LynnCrain #MySexySaturday #MySexyAuthors #MSS145
That sounds perfect, Lynn.
We were fortunate to be at a pretty hotel. It was comfortable and the decor was inspiring.
I’m blogging next month about how much we got accomplished.