A Writer's Retreat
The Smuttylicious Island Retreat is a Big Win!
Every year I pop down to Smuttylicious* Island for a week to recharge my batteries. This time has been exceptionally wonderful.
Watching one author friend get into the zone and have epiphany after epiphany is exhilarating. I love seeing the thrill of having the answer to a story question appear like magic.
Working with an author who has so many awesome things happening and spinning plates in the air work on all the things and make progress is inspiring.
My mind is amazing. I'm almost never bored and there is no boredom to be had on the island. The only time I would say I'm bored is simply when nothing around me is appealing or when I simply can't focus on any one thing long enough to get in the zone.
I realize now this happens because I'm being pulled in various directions and allowing it to happen. Notifications popping up interrupt what I'm working on. Or the voice of my impostor syndrome lures me into doubting my capabilities.
It doesn't seem to matter how much someone enjoys my stories, it still happens. I want my stories to have lovable characters who grow over the length of the book. I want there to be a plot that works. I am tired of reading books that have flimsy plots and cardboard characters. And yet, it feels like that's what sells. People eat them up, rave how tasty they are, and spit them out for the next one.
I'm working my hardest to make the characters in my head become real people readers would want to be friends with or turn into their next book boyfriend. I know I'm capable of doing this because I've done it before.
Romance is more than flimsy plotting and cardboard characters with spicy scenes tossed in like confetti for no other reason than to pad the word count.
Writing a good story is more than throwing spaghetti at the wall and declaring it done if it sticks.
I will be sharing the bare bones scenes I've been working on during the retreat. I may not have gotten many words written, but I have gotten more details about characters and I'm realizing that getting the words down is more important than getting every single word correct right now.
Here on the island with favorite people, working out story issues by demonstrating a scene or simply posing a question out loud for discussion has helped create in depth discoveries across the board. Being able to get up and go for a walk helps get our blood pumping and our minds working. Coffee is flowing in abundance just like the love we feel for each other. And while I know I'll be leaving soon, this feeling is something I can put inside myself to take home with me. Picking up the phone to call or shoot a message will help keep this feeling buoyed within for quite awhile.
Today, I finished Bound by Beau - Chapter Nine. You can find Chapter One for free pinned on my profile here. If you want to read more, you can subscribe to my Patreon or Ream Stories under the Complex Serial Stories or Stand Alone/Complex Serial Stories Tiers.
Bound by Beau is Dual-POV and contains two adults crushing on each other hard. It also contains consensual rope-binding.
What are you working on? Share in the comments!