On Sunday, August 2, the Inkwells got together virtually for a day of writing. We meet every Thursday night for our critiques, but the day of writing is a time to actually work on our novels in progress. Our yearly Inkwells retreat, when we all rent a big vacation house and write all weekend, isn’t possible this year because of the pandemic. In the past, we had also done one-day mini-retreats at Ruth's house, where we also held our weekly critiques--back when meeting in person was a thing.
Hopefully, meeting in person will be possible again soon. But in the meantime, we needed the boost, the motivation, and the accountability to block out a big chunk of time to work without the usual weekend distractions and obligations pulling us away.
We decided that we would meet on Zoom from 10 am to 5 pm. At 10 o’clock we did a check-in. What did everyone intend to work on today? After that, some of us logged out while others just muted ourselves and went to work with the camera on, agreeing to meet back at 1 pm for a mid-day check-in. After that, it was back to work for another three and a half hours until our end-of-day wrap-up at 4:30.
So what did we work on? Carol brushed up the beat sheet for her historical mystery and wrote a new chapter to submit to us for critique this week. Dave did final copy edits on his finished sci-fi manuscript in preparation for querying or self-publishing. Michelle worked on “otter hunting”-- researching and writing a scene for her early-California historical mystery. Ruth organized pieces of her manuscript in the morning and then wrote a new chapter in the afternoon, also for critique this Thursday at our regular meeting. Sarah worked on revising the first part of her novel, speeding the pace, reducing word count, and polishing up the first couple of chapters in preparation for querying. Steve continued to draft scenes for the climax of his steampunk fantasy. Valerie did a fast read-through of her suspense novel on Kindle (to avoid the temptation to edit), taking notes on big picture issues, scene and chapter transitions that need improving, and plot holes.
All in all, a productive day of much-needed camaraderie and support from our fellow writers.