I am happy to report success in the Writing Retreat! Goal:  50,000 words in 7 days.

Result:  52,553 words in 6 days.

About 40,000 of those words were written in 4 days.

Best day:  Monday, with a total of 11,665 words.

Despite some interruptions, I was able to focus on writing almost exclusively.  I almost finished the novel!  It was difficult to maintain the focus at times, but I pulled through and reached the goal.  I returned home Friday, and I’ve been reflecting on the event, thinking about what worked well, what didn’t, and what I’ll change next time I try something like this.

There were definitely factors that contributed to the successful week.  They include:

1.  Removing as many distractions and interruptions as possible.  I drove to a hotel situated in the countryside of Nevada.  There were few people around and very little to do even if I wanted to stop writing.  I turned off email except during rest breaks.

2.  Having a well-defined, completed outline.  If I’d gone there to discover my story, I could not have been as productive in word count because I would have spent a lot of time pacing around and brainstorming.  As it was, I had defined the story already, had written a 25,000 word outline, and already written the first 30,000 words of the story.  So I knew what I needed to write and I’d already discovered the story voice.  I had the chapters and scenes already defined.  All I had to do was park myself in the chair and type like mad.  This is the first time I’ve used this outlining approach to this extent, and it’s proving very successful.

3.  Having the right work area set up.  I made sure to bring my full-size keyboard on the trip.  I can type just fine on the laptop, but for this long-term focused effort, the full-size, ergonomic keyboard is much easier to use and causes less hand strain.  When I first arrived at the hotel, I was a little worried that the room did not have an actual desk.  I ended up typing on the dining table, which was too high for comfortable work.  But I solved the problem by replacing the hard dining chair with a lower, comfortable chair.  By pulling the chair up close and holding the keyboard on my lap, I ended up with a very comfortable position that I could hold for hours at a time.  When I got in the ‘zone’, I typed for hours without a break.  The time flew by, and the word count racheted up quickly.

4.  Setting a difficult goal.  I wanted to hit 50,000 words, therefore I had to type a minimum amount every day to reach that goal.  It kept me motivated, and as I reached the daily goals, I was encouraged.  Without a goal, I wouldn’t have been able to stay as focused or feel as much of a sense of satisfaction.   I did not quite complete the novel, but I exceeded the stretch goal I’d set, so I see the week as a complete success and can finish the book over the next few weeks.

With all that said, there were a few things that could have gone better.  They weren’t show stoppers, but they could have been.

First, the hotel was too hot.  The ambient temperature of the building hovered around 80 degrees.  The AC wasn’t turned on for the season yet, and even though I turned the heat in my room down, the little heater unit was not effective in dropping the temperature.  Only by leaving the windows open was I able to get the temperature down to 75 or lower.  Next time, I need to make sure the climate controls are effective.

Second, I don’t sleep well when I’m away from home.  I was pretty badly sleep-deprived by the time the week was over.  I hadn’t brought anything to help me sleep, even though I know I have this problem.  Next time, I need to deal with that because I definitely noticed my attention beginning to wander more toward the end of the week.

Third, I didn’t really have anything prepared to handle the down time at night.  I don’t watch TV much, and flipping through the channels before bed reminded me why.  I got so deeply immersed in the story each day that I needed something to break me out of that zone and give my mind a rest at night.  I ended up having to go out and buy a couple of movies.  With a little more thought beforehand, I could have made sure to have my favorite movies already in my bag.