Writers Group Reboot

After a rocky patch last week, my writers group met over margaritas and Mexican food, sans writing. We had one of these powwows at the start of the year, too—I think it’s healthy to recognize when the operation is stagnating and make a plan to reinvigorate the enterprise. Ultimately, we decided to take a break—a [...]

Making a Commitment

“I heard your writers group is awesome!” a friend exclaimed at dinner one night last week.
“We are!” I can’t help but gush about us. As I’ve written about before, we’ve been together for more than a year and a half—longer than any other group I’ve worked with. We’re talented and eclectic—on any given night, we [...]

On Writers Groups: Part III—Rules

Just after the New Year, my writers group gathered at a German tavern in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Silver Lake to touch base over ale and wieners dunked in steins of pea soup. At that point, we had been working together for a year, but I think we all felt we were in danger [...]

On Writers Groups: Part II—Types

The past couple of weeks have been productive ones in my writers groups. Last week, in what I call my writing group, I generated a few pages of new material on a new short-story concept that’s been percolating. And this week, in what I distinguish as my writers group, I got helpful feedback and encouragement [...]

Life After a Writers Retreat—Part VII: Appreciate Home

Now that I’ve taken my own advice and joined Facebook, I see that some of my fellow Pembrokers are suffering from Cambridge withdrawal. Although by the time I turned in my final portfolio, I thought I was ready to go home, upon my return, especially during the first couple of days, I pined for the [...]

Life After a Writers Retreat—Part VI: Stay Connected

Part of what I enjoyed so much about my studies at Pembroke College in Cambridge, England, was the sense that my fellow classmates were holed up in their dorm rooms or at the library or at a café or pub nearby or at the Orchard … all writing. There was an atmosphere of community even [...]

Life After a Writers Retreat—Part V: Continue the Work

Often you will attend a writers retreat with the express goal of finishing a piece of work. Indeed, when you apply to attend, you may be asked what you will be working on and what you hope to accomplish while you are there. Because my recent three weeks at Pembroke College in Cambridge, England, were [...]

Life After a Writers Retreat—Part IV: Extend the Experience

You’ve just spent two weeks (or two months) at a writers retreat. Now what?
So far we’ve suggested analyzing your experience and maintaining the productive strategies you developed there as ways to make the transition back to your everyday life. But let’s be real: it’s going to be hard to stay motivated once you’ve left an [...]

Life After a Writers Retreat—Part III: Identify Good Habits, and Keep Them

It’s been five days since I returned home from Cambridge, where I was studying fiction and screenwriting for three weeks at Pembroke College. Writers retreats like this one can be life-changing. How one reintegrates back into real life, however, is integral to the long-term effect of such a getaway. So over the past couple of [...]

Life After a Writers Retreat—Part II: Jet Lag

I’m notorious for not unpacking. Suitcases can sit un-unpacked on the floor of my office for literally months until I need them again.
It was a shock to my family after this trip, then, when I unpacked and did all my laundry my first day back from Cambridge. Since Monday, though, I have failed to take [...]