Retreat: Day 1

Thirteen of us arrived yesterday. We trickled in starting about ten in the morning and the last here by dinner.

We spent the afternoon unpacking and getting ourselves ready to work - some got right to their projects. I took about an hour to get things together, then started working on editing my Lumaria story (Atlantis-type place). One of the girls stopped in to ask if I had a tiny screwdriver - which, of course, I did. I'm one of those strange women who travels with a toolkit. Actually, I'm a former girl scout who travels with anything that might be needed - portable office, first aid (including ace bandage), tools, etc. Anyway, she uses a Dana to work on and needed to replace her batteries. The battery area is accessible through a long tab that is screwed in. Not only did she need the screwdriver, but the screw that was in there was stripped. It took some doing, but we managed to get it out and she replaced her batteries. And rather than replace the faulty screw, we taped the cover back on. A disaster averted.

At dinner, we gathered in the large dining room and chowed down on pot roast, vegetarian lasagna, salad, potato rolls, and strawberry tarts. Delicious.

After our meal, we had a short meeting and received our welcome packs. This year's theme is "Making play of work" so our packs included a deck of cards, jacks, bubble stuff, play doh, colory books, crayons, as well as pens, pencils and notebooks for actual works. Oh, and Mardi Gras beads. :)

After our meeting, Misty Simon did a short session on mind mapping - a type of plotting that allows you more freedom than a regular plot board. Then we all got down to work.

The highlight of the evening was when Natalie Damschroder screamed bloody murder and brought us all running to find out the agent she's been trying to get in with for two years sent her an e-mail and wants to talk with her today. We will all be waiting with baited breath for the phone call, I'm sure!

And thus ended the first day at the retreat.
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Birthdays: Omar Khayyam, Bertrand Russell, Patrick Dennis, Diane Duane

Tips and Teasers: On this date in 1980, Mt. St. Helen’s erupted, coating the northwest in ash and soot. Imagine you character was there. What did s/he do? Where did s/he go? Or didn’t s/he?

Thought for the day: "If you write fiction you are, in a sense, corrupted. There’s a tremendous corruptibility for the fiction writer because you’re dealing mainly with sex and violence. These remain the basic themes, they’re the basic themes of Shakespeare whether you like it or not." - Anthony Burgess