Rainforest Writer's Retreat Two - Electric Boogaloo
This year we went to the Rainforest Writer's Retreat again, our second time there. We had one of the cabins this year, with a great view of the lake, so I spent most of my time in the cabin to do my writing, 15.690 words worth in fact. It was great actually being at the retreat this time (last year I misunderstood the fact that rooms were already held for us and ended up staying at the lodge down the road). The other big difference is this year it actually snowed while we were there, and we were the last session during the first week in March.
Still, it was awfully pretty.
Speaking of pretty...
... here's a picture of my beautiful wife and a beautiful waterfall. This year, my wife wants to show my some of the sights of Lake Quinault that I missed last time, so we took a little drive as much around the lake as you can get really. This was one of my favorite spots.
Last year I got an amzing amount of writing done, but when I got back, I realized that there were some early plot points that needed to be reworked, so I've been slowly doing another draft as I work on all the things I need to do to get into grad school. So this year at Rainforest, I actually finally managed to get past the point I had reached last year at Rainforest. Hey, if writing novels was easy, everybody would be doing it.
This year, I got to meet Randy Henderson, husband of former Writer's Cramper Folly Blaine, so that was cool. He's a super sweet guy who has a good social justice analysis and clearly loves his wife, writing funny novels about supernatural shenanigans in the Pacific Northwest. I myself am also a super sweet guy who has a good social justice analysis and clearly loves his wife, writing funny novels about supernatural shenanigans in the Pacific Northwest. I was really looking forward to meeting him and getting him to sign some books for me.
Speaking of Writer's Cramp, this year there was actually someone from my writing group in my session, Writer of the Future winner Stephen Merlino. It was great getting a chance to hang out with him a little, though of course we spent most of our time just writing. Still, I had fun expalining to him what a Tatzelwurm was at the cabin party (every writer has a niche specialty and mine seems to be strange beasts and where to find them).
When it was all done and time to go home, we all got slammed by a snow storm and while the Mazda Miata handled it better than other cars I have had, still. This is a light sports car going through heavy mountain snow. We slide twice, once having to rely on the kindness of strangers to get us pushed back on the road proper, but after a slow 20 mph crawl to Aberdeen, the snow let up and we were able to make it safely home.
Also, during the final day raffle, I managed to win a stay at a beach cabin donated by Amy Thomson, so we will be heading out that way again this year for our very own litte writing retreat. Just not in the snow this time.