Right before dinner tonight I took a walk and took some photos. The lighting was perfect.
I love the way the trees lean away from the path, here, like they're making room for me to walk by.
The Columbia River, looking east
Friday, March 15, 2013
Writing Retreat & Snapshots
Every fall my choir has a retreat rehearsal weekend at a wonderful spot in the Columbia River Gorge. At retreat this year, I decided that the best thing in the world would be to plan a writing retreat in the same spot. My first idea was to just reserve a spot and write, write, write. After tentatively reserving a 2-night slot in a 5-bedroom house on the retreat property, I recruited 8 writer friends from various arenas of my life. We ended up planning more critiquing and sharing of our work then I had originally expected, which has been terrific. For various reasons I haven't had quite as much writing time as I'd like, but it's been tons of fun, and I've just about got chapter one of my next project finished.
Right before dinner tonight I took a walk and took some photos. The lighting was perfect.
Right before dinner tonight I took a walk and took some photos. The lighting was perfect.
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Your retreat looks like a wonderful escape! Best of luck with your writing project!
ReplyDeleteRebecca @ The Key to the Gate
Great photos, it does indeed look a beautiful place to retreat to. That view of the river looks rather cold, but eerily beautiful.
ReplyDeleteIt actually wasn't cold by my standards--it was probably around 60 degrees when I took that picture. Quite balmy for this time of year in the Gorge!
DeleteRetreats can be wonderful for our creativity! Thanks for the great shots and the fabulous idea. I want to take one now!
ReplyDeleteHere's MY SATURDAY SNAPSHOT POST
Beautiful pictures! What a great place to retreat to! Here's my Saturday Snapshot post.
ReplyDeleteYour retreats sounds wonderful! That view of the river is spectacular!
ReplyDeleteCritiquing is a good thing too, and sometimes writing time gets pushed aside. I've already written this morning, and you did too, to post this blog piece. Love the photos of the trees along the path, leaning back as though they are making space for something big or important to pass by.
ReplyDeleteHope you had a good retreat.
The view of the river is spectacular. Love the word that Bermuda Onion uses.
Critiquing and being critiqued is so valuable, I definitely don't regret taking the time to do it!
DeleteI always think the idea of a retreat sounds so lovely, and I like the picture of the trees, which really do look as if they are bending away to make room for you to pass by. We all need to time out and recharge ourselves.My Snapshot is at http://goo.gl/U62WN
ReplyDeleteRetreats ARE wonderful! Such good time with friends that share like interests.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely place for a retreat. The trees along the path do look like they're making way for you to pass by them. Glad you've had a good time. I don't have a snapshot this week, but a wrap up post on my Bonhoeffer read-along.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great place for a writing retreat, the view of the river is stunning!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful place! I can just imagine sitting outside and writing and writing and writing. I'm sure you and your friends enjoyed the time together too.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous...I love the last one the best. THANKS for sharing.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth
Silver's Reviews
My Saturday Snapshot
What a beautiful spot! :)
ReplyDeleteLooks like the perfect place to find creative inspiration.
ReplyDeleteYou created your own retreat and it turned out well...Good for you! It looks like a perfect spot for a retreat.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you did this, Ali! Sounds absolutely wonderful. And looks absolutely beautiful there!
Delete(Sorry to be commenting by hitting the reply button under someone else's comment. I've been having trouble getting the comment box to come up on your blog recently.)
Thanks, Deb Nance, it really was amazing how well it all turned out.
DeleteDrat, I thought I'd sorted out all the commenting problems! Thanks for finding a work-around, Debi, and please let me know if it continues.
I, too, am so glad I did this. It would have been just as like me to sit on the idea for a few years until it faded away, but every so often the anti-procrastinator bug bites me on the butt and I make something happen--and I never seem to regret it when I do.
What am ambitious undertaking, to create your own writing retreat. You also picked a gorgeous place for it.
ReplyDeleteSounds as if the retreat progressed better than most of the ones I have attended. They've amounted to random writing and lots of socializing, which isn't my reason for going to ones. Sounds as if you found a great group!
Allison, one of my writing group members didn't go, partly because she was worried it wouldn't be productive for her. I think she would have been pleasantly surprised.
DeleteThis group really was a great mix. 4 of the people are either past or present members of my writing group, and we gel really well together as writers and friends. Luckily, the additional people were able to fit right in, too.
It looks like a very beautiful place to have a retreat.
ReplyDeleteNice that you had so much fun even if it wasn't exactly as you envisioned! The river is so beautiful in that last photo!
ReplyDeleteThat river shot is very dramatic. Here's Mine
ReplyDeleteGorgeous---inspirational. Nice candid photos. What fun the retreat must have been :)
ReplyDelete