Rainforest Writers Village, Day Five

Last day of the retreat! We gathered in the lounge for a group photo and some wrap-up activities, including a word count tally (DeeAnn came in 6th overall) and door prize drawing. There was a giant gummy bear involved.

DeeAnn's name was drawn for one of the door prizes, and she selected a bundle of an autographed paperback copy of Kat Richardson's Underground and this nifty, color-coordinated notebook:

 

After that, everyone dragged out their goodbyes for a while--some of us hadn't actually talked much during the retreat, because we'd all been busy writing. Cards and e-mail addresses and hugs were exchanged. Pretty much everyone said they'd love to come back next year (including Patrick, fortunately).

On our way out, DeeAnn and I stopped down the road to check out the world's largest spruce tree. It wasn't quite as large as the cedars we saw on Wednesday, but it certainly looked more alive.

 
 
 

After visiting the spruce, we realized we were just at the other end of the road that led from the Rain Forest Resort Village cabins, so we walked back that way. It was less muddy than the trail we'd come in on, and we got to take a closer look at the ruins we'd driven past a few days ago.

 
 
 
 

All in all, we had a great time at the retreat; I could have wished for a little more socializing, but DeeAnn and I accomplished our main goals, which were to write a story together and celebrate our anniversary. We talked a little in the car about our next writing collaboration, and what we're going to do for our anniversary next year.

It's been raining pretty hard all day today. We don't mind the rain.

Rainforest Writers Village, Day Four

Today's sightseeing highlight: Roosevelt elk!

We had to drive a couple of miles down the road to find them, but there they were. One of them had antlers.

Also in that field: cats! Two of 'em.

I know what you're thinking. Cats and elk, living together? Madness! Relax. It was only a temporary cohabitation, as the cats ran off shortly after they realized they had been seen.

Also: still snow on the mountains.

In writing news, DeeAnn and I missed Jennifer's morning talk on multitasking (today was our wedding anniversary--we slept in), but we enjoyed Kat's afternoon chat on "Voice and Inner Dialogue," which turned into a group discussion about the use of various points-of-view.

Tonight, the nice folks from University Bookstore set up shop in the lounge and sold us a couple of anthologies, which we got signed by their respective editors and some of the contributors. Then everyone watched a repeat performance of Mary's Little Tiny Puppet Show™. After that, talk inevitably turned to theater war stories and tales of animal penises.*

We finished our collaborative short story this morning, and a couple of people have asked to read the final draft. We've also been told to submit it to Clarkesworld first, since they publish a wide range of stories and are fast on the draw for rejections. So we'll see how that goes.

In any case, DeeAnn and I both enjoyed the collaboration process, and are already talking about the next story we'll write together. I love my wife!



* "Tales of Animal Penises" is the name of my Bloodhound Gang cover band.

Rainforest Writers Village, Day Three

"Fiction? I hate fiction!"

That's my new rallying cry. Sorry, you kinda had to be there.

It snowed a little last night. We could still see some of it in the trees up on the mountain this afternoon:

Today was Mary Day, since she cooked an excellent, gluten-free lunch for everyone, gave a talk on "Puppetry and SF," and even put on a little tiny puppet show:



For dinner, DeeAnn made a tasty crockpot jambalaya, and fellow writer Janka came over to eat with us and share bird-watching tips.

Oh, what? Writing? Yeah, we did some of that, too. DeeAnn finished the 5,200-word first draft of our collaborative short story last night, and I did a revision today and inflated it to 5,500 words. We read the first part of it tonight in Cabin 6, and it was very well-received. She's just done another pass over the document, and I'll look at it as soon as I finish blogging here. Then we'll be done! For now.

I also glued together all the various pieces of my novel-in-progress to get a sense of where it's at. Current word count is 140,000, but there's a lot I know I need to cut, and I still have to rewrite the ending. That won't get done this weekend, but it's a lot more progress than I've made in many months.

Rainforest Writers Village, Day Two

First, the good news:

- enjoyed a lovely pancake breakfast, courtesy of Patrick.
- enjoyed a lovely talk on setting by Kat.
- delicious sandwiches for lunch!
- enjoyed a lovely talk on reading aloud by Mary.
- nice salmon dinner and conversation with Erin.
- figured out how the pieces of my novel-in-progress all fit together. (Mostly.)
- ended the day with a total word count of 4,211.
- DeeAnn finished the first complete draft of our collaborative story!

And the bad news:

- cat-sitter reports that Jasper threw up. Nothing serious, but I feel bad that DeeAnn and I aren't home to comfort him.
- devastation in Japan, and tsunami warnings for the Washington coast. We're about 150 feet above sea level and at least 20 miles inland, so I think we'll be okay, but I still worry. I guess we'll find out what happens at 7:30 AM.

When I attended Viable Paradise in the fall of 2008, it was right in the middle of the financial crisis, and I have a distinct memory of looking over Patrick's shoulder at his laptop, as he read out the news about the federal government seizing WaMu. (I also have a later memory of seeing JoCo tweet about it, but that's another story.)

And now this.

It's almost as if the universe is trying to tell me something, daring me to care about art while other, more important things are happening in the world. What good is writing fantasy and science fiction when there are people dying, and you can't do anything about it?

Well, the short answer is right there. I can't do anything about the natural and manmade disasters that are sometimes too big to even contemplate. But I can, as Neil says, Make Good Art. That's what I can contribute to the world. And so I will.

But first, sleep, and hopefully no bad dreams. (Though I also have a history of turning those into halfway decent stories.)

Rainforest Writers Village, Day One

Highlights from our first day at the Rainforest Writers Village:

We arrived last night so we could spend today sightseeing, and we did. Recommended by both the AAA guy who gave us our Olympic Peninsula map and Shawn(sp?), the front desk clerk here at the resort, we drove up to Ruby Beach and wandered around for a while. It was pretty foggy, but still beautiful:

Someone ahead of us had left behind some Goldsworthy-esque rock art:

Which inspired DeeAnn to create her own mini-monument:

After enjoying a picnic lunch in the car and observing high tide, we headed back to the resort, stopping along the way to visit a couple of big old cedar trees:

Hey, is that tree giving us the finger? The nerve!

Anyway.

For dinner, DeeAnn made a tasty crockpot chowder. The bad news: we put the leftovers in a covered plastic bowl out on the porch to cool, and then some raccoons stole it. Just stole the whole damn thing! I heard a noise outside and came to the window in time to see them making off with the entire bowl. Furry small-handed bastards. The nerve!

No photos of that, but it did generate this amusing Twitter conversation:

After the evening meet-and-greet with other retreat attendees, we helped one woman call in her leaking roof (spotty cell phone reception here), then retired to our cabin and spent some time breaking the story we're going to write collaboratively over the next few days. It'll be a continuation of my 512 Words flash fiction "Defeated," and should be pretty interesting. I will also be writing this week's 512, plus working on at least one of the novels I have yet to finish.

If you're interested, look for our Twitter updates tagged #rainforest2011a. I may not be blogging much more until Monday...