Monday, May 3, 2021

Rockin' the Riter's Retreat!!!

 I spent five days at a writer's retreat 

(Yes, I know how to spell writer!!!)

This is me, sitting outside on a beautiful morning on the porch of the Log Cabin we stayed in in central Iowa.
Trust me, this place has NOTHING IN COMMON with a true, frontier log cabin. It was such a nice place. Beautiful house, lots of space, very comfortable...not counting that Erica Vetsch started coughing from something she was reacting to. But I felt fine!!!
Our hostess was Dawn Ford from Iowa.
Here she is with Erica Vestch. We were each given a meal to be in charge of. 
Dawn is actually making coffee, but Erica is faking that she's cooking.

Next is Nebraska author (like me) Kathy Geary Anderson.



Cathy just had her first book release, The Trouble with Jenny, and it was so fun to talk about!

She's working on the next book already.

Our fifth writer was Iowa author Shari Barr. She left a day early and as you might predict, I didn't get my camera out until she was long gone. But she had fun writing and then off she went, something about a daughter getting married in the near future.

And we had a guest come by one day. Iowa author Erin Stevenson. 


Her latest book is Sisters Ever After, book #1 of a new series.


I wrote as many words as I could for five days, two of them mostly travel days, and got 13,000 words down. 

I finished one book and began another.
I need to go through the book I finished and do revisions but I didn't want to spend the retreat doing that. I wanted WORD COUNT!!!
I couldn't hold a candle to Erica and her TWENTY THOUSAND WORDS!!!

We also brainstormed for a while each night, if someone wanted to. And someone always did?


The one drawback was no wifi. That surprised us but we had a little lead time for it. Still, I wanted wifi. I'm pretty hooked!

Erica is the one who mentioned how often we, as historical authors, look up words to see if they existed during our book's era. Pro-tip...Shenanigans DID exist in 1870...but not by much. 1850s.


We were on our own for breakfast--which I mostly skipped. And lunch, which was either leftovers or turkey sandwiches. And we had a nice snack counter which, no matter how much we ate, seemed to grow more plentiful with each passing day.

Then we signed up for dinner. Which, four days before, I had to ask if we'd ever discussed dinner. At which point Erica told me what I'd agreed to make and when and Dawn showed me the Google document where I'd filled in my meal plan.



Sigh.

Swiss Cheese Brain is my superpower!


It was wonderful. Dawn Ford has arranged a writer's retreat before, and I have to say she's really got a knack for arranging a successful writer's retreat.


The Log Cabin was so pretty and really out in the woods.



As part of a successful writer's retreat we often look around the area for touristy or scenic things and in this case we could not resist historic Fort Dodge. Erica found it and lured me and Dawn to it the morning the retreat ended.
I took so many pictures! But I won't subject you to all of them.
There was a pioneer village with old buildings pulled in 
to surround the restored Fort Dodge.
This is the Blacksmith Forge.
Below it the Blacksmith Shop.
I have a whole lot of pictures of old iron tools. I wanted to make my next character a blacksmith but after studying this building, I maybe can't handle it! We'll see.

Next we walked along the stockade walls to enter Fort Dodge. I just love this kind of stuff. 
Below is a picture of the Land Office. Looking around restored pioneer villages helps me to remember all the possible stores in a town of this era. I tend to have a general store, a livery stable, a jail, a diner and a saloon. I'm trying to remember there are occasionally a few more things. This village had a veterinarian, a cabinet maker, a carriage maker, a drug store, a church, a school...I remember to add those always. It was a cool place.
And one more little thing...today is my mom's 93rd birthday. This is a picture from her 90th birthday party. Mom and all eight of her children. 


She's survived Covid and now is vaccinated but we are still very restricted in our visits to her nursing home.
So we don't get to throw her much of a party. I'll be gone for a while this morning. But I'll be back.

We all agreed this last year has been so majorly WEIRD with Covid and everything shut down, that getting together for the writer's retreat (all of us vaccinated) was just purely uplifting.
We haven't done it enough.
And we're already talking about next time!
Leave a comment to get your name in a drawing for a
Keepin' Cowboys Cool Cooler to celebrate the new series.
Keepin' 
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44 comments:

  1. Mary, this looks like such a wonderful time! I am envious! Between talking, brainstorming, taking in the sites and enjoying the view, I don't know how any of you got any writing done - let alone 13,000 to 20,000 words. So glad you had a good time.

    My husband and I are hoping to drive across the northern US this summer and visit some national parks, visit my son in Seattle, then visit other places on the way home. Planning to be gone about six weeks. Any recommendations from anyone on places we should see would be great! Happy birthday to your mom.

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    1. I forgot to say, I would like to visit places that will help me see more of the era I write about - mid to late 1800's. Thanks!

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    2. Lynne how far north? Like the Black Hills? I've heard there are great museums up there. I'll think more on it.

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    3. There are some GREAT museums in the Black Hills! But don't forget western Nebraska and Wyoming. Fort Laramie, Wyoming is one place I hope to visit soon.

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    4. Ft. Robinson in Nebraska is a great one. It isn't far from the Black Hills.

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  2. Oh, Mary, what a great post!! Takes me back to the time you and I went on a writer's retreat and shared a room. I swear you NEVER slept, my friend, but read and wrote most of the time. You apparently have trained Erica well if she beat you out on word count! ;)

    Love the pics and the post ... thanks for the memories!

    Hugs,
    Julie

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    1. Julie, Hi! Yes, that was New Mexico. I love going to these.

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  3. Mary, that looks like SO much fun, and so productive. Would love to have a chunk of time to work on my book, or any project. I have friends with cabins, have to drop a few hints.
    Praising the Lord today because there is finally some forward motion on my nonfiction history book. It was in the proverbial black hole, but I heard from the editor the other day (oh who am I kidding, I bugged her) and we are on our way. This was causing me some angst. God is good and answers prayer.
    Also interested in the Fort Dodge aspect, my husband and I watch "Gunsmoke" reruns every night.
    AND...Erin Stevenson is one of my fellow Pelican Book Group authors! She does our weekly prayer list! SO cool that you know each other.
    A little effusive for a Monday, so I will toddle on, may be back later.
    Your Kaybee
    Marveling at our connectedness in New Hampshire

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    1. Kaybee. We never think of inviting people from far away to these things. Maybe we should! A non-fiction history book? I love the sound of that.

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    2. Yes, Mare, I have a contract with Arcadia Publishing. You know, the ones with the sepia covers, they're all over the country. We're finishing up my first book with them, "Exeter Then and Now," a pictorial history of Exeter, New Hampshire. Where a lot of stuff happened in the 18th and 19th centuries. Am enjoying it. Fiction still first love, but writing is writing. Plus I got to write footnotes for the first time in 40 years.
      Switching gears now, will talk to you Wednesday. Or whoever's on Wednesday.
      Kaybee

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  4. I enjoyed meeting all of you and making new friends! I was putting final touches on a manuscript all day--not going for word count--and got it all done! Very productive environment.

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    1. Erin, it's me, Kathy Bailey from PBG, is this a small world or what?

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    2. The retreat is what YOU need it to be, Erin. I'm so glad it met your needs. And it was so fun to meet you.

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  5. Wonderful post, Mary. I love putting these on, mainly because I need the time away from all of the distractions to get words on the page. The brainstorming is really priceless. I think it helps everyone. It was so refreshing to be among so many prolific writers. I got a lot accomplished while we were there. Here's to the next time!

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    1. Oh gosh, I almost forgot to wish your Mom a Happy Birthday!!

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    2. I'm already looking forward to next time, Dawn. You're a pro at this.

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  6. Happy Birthday to Dorothy!

    I'm so impressed with those word counts! Congratulations on all the progress!

    I've often thought that a Black Hills writer's retreat might be a good idea. We have a small (but lively!) group of writers here, and a retreat in a log home would be a productive way to spend a few days. There are plenty of vacation rentals around here to choose from. Hmm....someone might have to do some planning...

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    1. Go for it, Jan. By the time you bring in meals, and split the cost of the rental, it's just not even an expensive trip. You can do it!!!

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  7. I am so envious, Mary! And who cares about internet when you get to mingle with other writers. Woot, woot! That's more precious than gold these days.

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    1. No internet, though frustrating (my phone worked fairly well for internet) was probably a blessing in disguise. Nothing else to do except WorK!!!

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  8. Thank You so much Mary for sharing this wonderful post with us as I Love reading post like this and all the wonderful pictures you shared as well I love reading and seeing pictures of cabins like this This so made my day Blessings to you and yours!

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    1. Hi Sarah. The cabin being log was just perfect. Then the pioneer village at Ft. Dodge was even MORE perfect! Great trip. I feel like I haven't budged from my home for a YEAR!!!

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  9. Sounds like a lot of fun and 13,000 words in 5 days is pretty amazing!

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    1. Jamie! I agree! I'm claiming it as hugely successful. Thank you, Dawn.

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  10. The retreat was sooo much fun and I'm still feeling guilty for being the only one with internet on my phone. It proved very helpful when I needed to know if "pinky swear" was around in 1885. Turns out it was!

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    1. Kathy did you see Vince's question below about your book?

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  11. I don't need that cute cooler, but just wanted to chime in and say your retreat looked so fun. Good job on your word count. And now you have me itching to get together with my writer gals. :-)

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    1. Amy it was really worth it. We all felt a little like we'd been walking through a weird covid daze all year. I didn't even quite realize it, but it was energizing and so fun to get together with people who love writing. Great conversations you really can't have with anyone else.

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  12. Hi Mary:

    Wow! 13,000 words, that's nothing to sneeze at…even if Erica did all the sneezing!

    I really like books with "Sisters" in the title, and there are not that many each year, so that romance is an instant buy. I also love all of Margaret Coel's "Wind River" mysteries with Father John and all those Arapahos. I've read all the books and so has my wife. My question is this: do you know if,"The Trouble with Jenny", has anything to do with the Arapahos or the Shoshones? That would make this book an automatic buy for me. (I did grow up mostly in New Jersey, so if a big part of the book takes place there, well, that would also be good… but not as good as Wyoming.

    One Last thing: when I hear the word 'retreat' I always assume there is a religious and meditative component to the event. How was this for you?

    Vince

    P.S. Loved you Ft. Dodge coverage. We want to go there. When we travel we always stop at old forts. If you are in Oklahoma, Ft. Gibson and Ft. Supply are in good condition and well worth a visit.

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    1. Hi Vince! I'll ask Kathy about the history of her book. I have it here but I haven't gotten it read yet.
      We are all Christian authors and we prayed before meals but that's the only part our faith played in our retreat beyond, or course, being blessed with every breath we take.
      Nebraska has Fort Robinson but it's so far west Oklahoma might be closer!

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    2. And Nebraska has Ft. Kearny!

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  13. Mary, this sounds like such fun. I'm officially envious! It looks like you had a great time. Thanks for the post. I'm eagerly awaiting your next book!

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    1. I guess we could have gone farther afield with our invitations. There was definitely room for more writers. But man, to ask someone to fly in just feels like DANGEROUS these days.

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    2. Well, I'm a reader, not a writer, but I'd love to do a retreat. I have a cabin in southern Idaho we could use! :-)
      Winnie Thomas

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  14. Mary, looks like you had a great time. You were all very productive. Please put me in the drawing.

    I just finished reading all 3 of the Brides of Hope Mountain series and wrote reviews on Amazon. I really enjoyed them and look forward to this next series of yours.

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    1. Sandy, thanks for the reviews and thank you so so much for reading my books. Next time, you come to the retreat, girl!!!

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  15. Happy birthday to your lovely mama! I hope the celebration is memorable!

    I had a terrific time this weekend, and guess what? I stopped coughing!

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    1. We had a wonderful get together with Mom. We had four grandchildren and four grandchildren come to the window and wave to Mom, besides the four children in visiting with her. It was a nice party.

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  16. Looks like a great retreat! So what did you fix for dinner? Asking for a friend. :)

    Happy Birthday to your mother! God bless her!

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    1. I made Macho Nachos. Kathy made Stromboli, Shari made Lasagna, Dawn made a baked potato bar. All of it was delicious. And everyone went for simple.

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  17. Hi Mary:

    Please tell Kathy that I liked her cover so much I just bought, "The Trouble with Jenny,"! That cover should be entered in any contests for cover art. Kathy is very lucky to have such a beautiful art work for her first book -- she could have got a snake! That part of the country has plenty of Prairie rattlesnakes. ; )

    Also, I really loved Erin's cover because it passed my own personal test: does the cover depict a scene I'd want to jump into and be a part of! Absolutely. It make me think of Lake Louise -- one of the most beautiful places in the world. It's already on my Kindle!

    I think you were in really good company there on retreat.

    Vince

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    1. Those covers are beautiful, Vince. I'll make sure she knows you got a copy.

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    2. Hi Mary:

      Please also tell her that "Sisters Ever After" has the best prologue I can ever remember reading. For all those who are against writing prologues, this one is how to do it right. This might make a good topic for a future post. (I'm one who does not like prologues but I loved this one.)

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  18. It looks like y'all had a wonderful retreat! Fun pictures and amazing word counts! A writer's retreat is on my bucket list. Thanks for sharing with us your fun weekend. :) Looking forward to reading the words that were written!!

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