Don't use bubbles in a jet tub.

And more lessons learned + accomplishments from my writing retreat.

Lake Tahoe was so many shades of blue.

A few months into the pandemic, I started taking my writing seriously. It’s when I began my morning writing routine and found my writing group through Instagram. I would use my vacation time to take a staycation and write for the entire week. All the major conventions were being held online, and I’d spend three days sitting at my computer, listening to panels, learning, and connecting with people from all over the world. I felt very saturated by writing, and it was a great time that I haven’t been able to replicate since until my writing group finally got our shit together and organized an in person writing retreat.

Truly, this was the best thing I have done for my writing. Excluding travel days, we had three full days of co-writing interspersed with home-cooking, board games, exploring Lake Tahoe, reading, and napping. All told, here is what I accomplished:

I wrote 8,000 words in three days.

Even though my primary goal wasn’t to achieve X amount of words, 8,000 for me is normally about two weeks of writing, so to do that in three days…I feel really good about that number.

Did I not stand up enough? Indeed. Did I drink so much coffee that I was tweaking? 100%. But retreats like this are meant for deep work, a constant rotation of writing, eating, and sleeping with some fun and socializing in between.

Worked through a sequence of scenes I was avoiding.

Writing a multi-POV story that converges at certain points is HARD. This is my first time doing it, and I have been stuck at a point where a few characters are simultaneously experiencing the same event. This retreat, where I was focused solely on writing, where I had separated myself from thinking about world events and work, gave me the headspace to get through them. It was such a relief to do after trying for months to focus on those particular scenes. I’m excited to move forward now.

Learned you shouldn’t use even a tiny bit of bubble bath in a jet tub.

Bubbles. Bubbles everywhere.

oops.

Decided on a due date and word count goal.

Strange Speculations

and I had a brief heart-to-heart about the length of my book while on the retreat. Brief was all I needed because I knew he was right (and had been all along, and this is the only time I will admit that, so I hope you’re seeing this). My original outline for this book had a big midpoint and an even bigger end and by the time I wrote up to the midpoint, I knew that to write it through to the end of the outline would place is over 200k words which is too long for the first novel of a series, too long for a debut novel I’d be querying with, just plain TOO LONG.

So I decided to make that original midpoint the end of book one, placing the word count roughly at 145,000. I also shifted my due date to around the end of the summer, taking the rest of 2025 for reader feedback and editing.

I took the best nap of my life.

I don’t usually nap. I used to say “I don’t nap,” but as I enter my mid-thirties, I realized napping under the right conditions can be awesome. One such condition I’ve discovered is near an open window with a chilly mountain breeze blowing through onto fresh sheets, with my fuzzy blanket, after a morning of intense writing and really good food.

Fell in love with Catan.

It was my first time playing, and I instantly became obsessed. I almost won a few times! But I was with seasoned players, and alas, I was no match for them.

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I hadn’t written about this trip yet because I came back from experiencing what life as a full-time writer would be like and it truly bummed me out to return to my day job. But because of this writing retreat, I’m reinvigorated with drive and motivation to finish this book and start querying for an agent. It gave me confidence that I can make a career out of this, and I saw a future where I do more of these writing retreats, work on more books, and see more amazing places in the process. I’m also learning more and more each year how valuable it is to have a circle of people who share your passion and support you through the ups and downs that they are also experiencing alongside you.