Retreat at the Beach…

After a glorious weekend spent talking and working with other writers, watching and hearing the waves of the ocean nearby, and focusing entirely on something I love, all I can say about today: It’s Monday.

*sigh*  This weekend was the retreat put on by a local RWA Chapter (Sacramento Valley Rose – amazing women) with Margie Lawson as the guest workshop speaker.  We dug into her EDITS system and body language and had ourselves a grand ol’ time.  Not only was it my first taste of re-immersion into my writing again, it was so incredibly helpful.  Margie’s EDITs system is one of the best things out there – I can’t recommend it enough. It will change your writing.   Her system helps you to see on every page what your story is missing.  If you’d like a hint of what her deep-editing is like, she has about 25 of them on her website here.   Next week, I’ll take a few pictures of my highlighted pages and show you the torture. 🙂

Margie is opening up her “Lawson’s Writer’s Academy” on her website — and upcoming on June 9th and 10th is the grand opening – prizes and more.   Definitely check it out and while you are there, look at her lecture packets — the goodies from her classes if there isn’t one soon enough to suit your purposes.

But other than the class itself, which was the second time I’ve taken this full-day Master class from Margie, the weekend was a wonderful experience.  Meals were included, so as a group, we ate together, worked together and on Saturday night, hung out together as two intrepid souls went on a wine and beer run.  (Thank you!)  It was total immersion into the world of writing.

I loved every minute.

I know I won’t be able to make RWA this year, so this was even that much more special.  There is nothing quite like the experience of sharing this with others who get you, who understand the issues you face, who understand what your struggles are…and who celebrate right along with you as the pieces start to fall into place.  The first time I attended Margie’s class, I left on overload.  The EDITs system is deep and indepth and I was still reeling from what it would take (I thought) to work through it and apply it to my WIP.  This time, all those lessons I’d learned the first time clicked into place.  I could see where they fit now and how to apply them. It stopped being so daunting.  I finally got it.

It also reinforced something that we all know, but often forget.  A lot of writing is rewriting.   One of the things I remember from a previous RWA conference was Susan Elizabeth Phillips saying “Give yourself permission to write badly.”

This system helps to give you permission to write a crappy first draft if you need to.  (Notice I said FIRST draft, not a crappy book.)  No one has to be perfect out of the gate.   And with Margie’s EDITs system, you’ll have the tools in place for draft 2 and 3 to bring it all into sharp focus.  In talking to someone else at the retreat who was feeling just as I had after the first class a few years back, I tried to help her understood that an EDITs program is about editing, not about always writing it that way in the first place.   As you learn and grow, the things you learn through the EDITs process will naturally become a bigger part of your inherent writing.  We all get better as time goes by and we build upon what we’ve learned.