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.


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



25 comments:

  1. Your retreat looks like a wonderful escape! Best of luck with your writing project!
    Rebecca @ The Key to the Gate

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great photos, it does indeed look a beautiful place to retreat to. That view of the river looks rather cold, but eerily beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It 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!

      Delete
  3. Retreats can be wonderful for our creativity! Thanks for the great shots and the fabulous idea. I want to take one now!

    Here's MY SATURDAY SNAPSHOT POST

    ReplyDelete
  4. Beautiful pictures! What a great place to retreat to! Here's my Saturday Snapshot post.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Your retreats sounds wonderful! That view of the river is spectacular!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Critiquing 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.
    Hope you had a good retreat.

    The view of the river is spectacular. Love the word that Bermuda Onion uses.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Critiquing and being critiqued is so valuable, I definitely don't regret taking the time to do it!

      Delete
  7. I 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

    ReplyDelete
  8. Retreats ARE wonderful! Such good time with friends that share like interests.

    ReplyDelete
  9. What 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.

    ReplyDelete
  10. What a great place for a writing retreat, the view of the river is stunning!

    ReplyDelete
  11. What 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.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Gorgeous...I love the last one the best. THANKS for sharing.

    Elizabeth
    Silver's Reviews
    My Saturday Snapshot

    ReplyDelete
  13. Looks like the perfect place to find creative inspiration.

    ReplyDelete
  14. You created your own retreat and it turned out well...Good for you! It looks like a perfect spot for a retreat.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So glad you did this, Ali! Sounds absolutely wonderful. And looks absolutely beautiful there!

      (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.)

      Delete
    2. Thanks, Deb Nance, it really was amazing how well it all turned out.

      Drat, 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.

      Delete
  15. What am ambitious undertaking, to create your own writing retreat. You also picked a gorgeous place for it.

    Sounds 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!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 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.

      This 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.

      Delete
  16. It looks like a very beautiful place to have a retreat.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Nice that you had so much fun even if it wasn't exactly as you envisioned! The river is so beautiful in that last photo!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Gorgeous---inspirational. Nice candid photos. What fun the retreat must have been :)

    ReplyDelete