Caroline Starr Rose

picture book and middle-grade author

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Ready to Learn from Each Writing Moment

6 Comments

How beautiful is this place?

Every September my critique group meets for a writing retreat. We rent a house in town, plan out who will make dinner what night, do a bit of critiquing in the evenings, watch a movie together, and spend the rest of our time in creative work.

The years I’ve been on deadline, I’ve made quantifiable! Great! Leaps and bounds! with my writing. During the other years, not so much. But here’s the thing: those slower retreats were still creatively important, whether I produced much or not. Have I believed that during the retreat itself? Not always. I’m still learning to trust that every writing experience teaches me something. (In fact, this post came about as a direct result of last year’s retreat).

I have no deadline this time around, but I do have a project underway. It would be easy to head into tomorrow with my ego and anxiety kicked up in high gear. Instead, I hope to stay prepared but open, relaxed and willing to work, ready to learn from each moment as it comes.

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Filed Under: the writing life

Comments

  1. Heila says

    September 12, 2017 at 6:25 am

    Sounds wonderful! Trusting … just trusting, in life… being open/willing to work. Helpful, thanks. (:

    Reply
    • Caroline says

      September 12, 2017 at 8:03 am

      Now to apply these words!

      Reply
  2. Kimberley Griffiths Little says

    September 12, 2017 at 10:33 am

    Your retreat spot looks gorgeous! What part of ABQ is it? Happy writing!

    Reply
    • Caroline says

      September 12, 2017 at 11:23 am

      Right near the La Luz trail. It is STUNNING.

      Reply
  3. Vijaya says

    September 12, 2017 at 1:44 pm

    What a lovely place for a retreat. I just came across this wonderful quote by Joshua Mohr: “Learn to respect the pages the reader will never see.” Isn’t that lovely? There’s no such thing as wasted writing. Enjoy your retreat!!!

    Reply
    • Caroline says

      September 13, 2017 at 7:24 pm

      Oh, Vijaya. That is perfect. I’d like to share those words here, if I may.

      Reply

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