A Month of Being Brave: Summing Up

In November I set myself the challenge to follow Liberty’s example in A Winter’s Dream and spend the month of December being brave (I wrote about it here). I invited friends and family to set me challenges that would push me out of my comfort zone or encourage me to try new things.

How did I get on?

I’m pleased to say that I:

• made a quilt
• climbed Kinder Scout
• ran 10km
• learned how to knit
• made the 13 desserts of Christmas

You can see videos for each of these challenges on my YouTube channel here. 

I was also set the challenge of reading the classic French novel, Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. Unfortunately, I didn’t complete this one in time, but more about that in a moment.

Climbing Kinder Scout

The physical challenges (a run and a hike) were a very different kind of fear from the others, and the thrill when I completed them was equally physical. I found completing these challenges life-affirming, invigorating, and they gave me a real high. 

I’m very keen now to take part in organised races and to test myself with faster times or longer distances.

 

The crafty challenges (quilting, knitting) were time-pressured, but in normal circumstances would have been relaxing and mindful. 

Like with the physical challenges, they’ve made me want to carry on knitting and make more quilts for charity. 

I’m more confident now that I can machine-sew, and I’ve added to my skill set.

 And the baking challenge brought unexpected drama (see the video), but it was great fun and the results were a bonus! I’ll never serve Christmas pudding again now I’ve tasted the delicious 'buche de Noel' (chocolate log). 

Les 13 desserts de Noel

What didn’t work?

The novel, Les Misérables, is over 1200 pages long, and I simply didn’t allow enough time to read it. I kept a week free between Christmas and New Year, but with hindsight that wasn’t enough. However, even if I’d started reading it earlier, I was so busy with the other challenges I’m not sure I would have completed it. But I’m around halfway through and enjoying it, so I’m planning to finish it in my own time.

The downside of doing these challenges in December was that I had less time to prepare for Christmas. Fortunately, Christmas 2020 was a low-key affair so I think I got away with it.

 

What did I learn?

Planning is key for most things, but especially for those we find scary or difficult. I broke each task down into small stages, for example, running a bit further each day, and this quietened the voice in my head that wanted to tell me I couldn’t do it. I could and I did! 

I repeatedly underestimated myself, then was surprised by what I achieved.

Would I do it again?

Definitely! All my challenges required energy and dedication, but the rewards were huge.

And having a purpose during the lockdown and Covid restrictions was wonderful. While everyone around me was feeling down and dreading the prospect of a quiet Christmas, I was getting up early to run, and my evenings were filled with baking and knitting. It gave me a positive focus in dark times.

One reviewer of A Winter's Dream said, “I recommend this as a January read, as its themes include confronting fears, shaking things up, trying something new.” And I agree.

In fact, I recommend challenging yourself at any time of year. I’m definitely planning to push myself more in future. There’s no better way to give yourself a confidence boost than by surprising yourself with your own achievements.

Have you challenged yourself recently? If so, how did it go? I’d love to hear from you.

Sophie.x

PS: A huge thank you to my friends and family who set the challenges, and also to Anna Caig, who gave me the idea.

www.sophieclaire.co.uk

My Year of Being Brave

My latest book, A WINTER’S DREAM, tells the story of Liberty who feels her life is stuck in a rut – so she challenges herself to say yes to everything for the month of December.

“Every opportunity, every invitation, I’ll accept. Every difficult dilemma, I won’t let myself go for the easy option. I’ll do the opposite instead. And every day I’ll do at least one thing that takes me out of my comfort zone.” 

A Winter’s Dream by Sophie Claire.

Since the story is about being brave and overcoming your fears, I decided that the best way to research this was to have a year of being brave myself. Gulp.

I needed to feel the fear exactly like my character would, I needed to experience how it felt to dig deep and find the courage to overcome difficult hurdles. So I began by thinking hard about what we find scary, and a quick poll on Facebook made me realise that it’s different for everyone. Yes, the obvious ones are heights and parachute jumps, and spiders and insects featured heavily too, but my biggest fear is getting up to speak in public. 

It terrifies me.

I chose not to make a speech at my wedding, I was a nervous wreck when I had to give presentations for work, and I would do anything rather than find myself on a stage, tongue-tied with a room full of faces all watching me.

So that was obviously going to be my first challenge, then!

I booked myself on a course for honing your presentation skills, and although it was fun (especially the bit where I had to read aloud whilst having socks thrown at me!) and I learned some useful tips, I was still nervous. 

Then I won a short story competition and was invited to read my work at the awards ceremony. It would have been so easy to say I wasn't available – but just like Liberty I made myself do the opposite and accepted the invitation. I followed the advice I’d learned of practising, and speaking slowly and loudly. I also printed my story in an enormous font so I could read it easily. I was really nervous beforehand. Would I mess it up? Stumble over my words?

Chester Prize for Literature 2019

The big day came and I was even more nervous when I discovered there was no podium to hide behind and no microphone either. My legs were shaking so much I was sure everyone would see. 

But I did it.

I read clearly and didn’t mumble or get tongue-tied, and afterwards people came to tell me how much they’d enjoyed my story. I was by no means the best speaker – one lady read with such expression it was liking watching an actress at work and I was full of admiration – but I did ok.

The relief was overwhelming. And the sense of achievement too. I’d surprised myself and I was elated. If I could do this, what else could I do that I’d never dared try before? Suddenly the world didn’t seem such a frightening place after all.

What else did I do in my year of being brave? Well, on a research trip to Provence I drove a hire car in France for the first time. Driving on the right-hand side was the trickiest part, and getting used to the gearstick on the right took some time. I also left the Sat Nav in French mode rather than English because this was not the easy option, but great research. And I managed, even if I did drive up one particularly windy mountain road in 2nd gear all the way! (I used that experience in the book).

My year of being brave brought some great memories, and my confidence really grew as a result. Pushing myself out of my comfort zone was fabulous research for my book, and the sense of achievement when I accomplished something I hadn’t thought possible was unbeatable. 

But it's not over yet. 

For the month of December I'm going to follow Liberty's example and say YES to challenges set for me by friends and family. There'll be around half a dozen, and they will include:

• running 10km
• a sewing challenge (Liberty's a keen quilter)  
• a baking challenge to make the 13 desserts of Christmas (a Provencal tradition mentioned in the book)

You can follow my progress on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. And perhaps you'll be inspired to challenge yourself too? (Let me know if you do, and I'll cheer you on!) 

I must admit, I'm quite daunted by the prospect of facing these challenges: there will be nowhere to hide if I don't succeed in them. But I've learned that half the battle is being willing to simply have a go.  So here's to a month of being brave. Wish me luck!

Sophie.x

Sophie’s latest book, A WINTER’S DREAM, is available in Tesco, online and in bookshops.

Amazon

Bookshop.org

Publishing Process Part 3 – Proofs & Cover Artwork

This is the third in my series of posts about the publishing process (you can read the first and second here) with a traditional publisher. As I take you through my journey, I hope to demystify the process and give you an idea of the work which goes into getting a book ready to hit the shelves.

Proofs

Checking the proofs is the final stage in getting the text of a book ready for the printer's. The manuscript was sent to me and a proofreader simultaneously, and by now it was all laid out like a book rather than the word document we’d previously been working from.

Hodder sent me a physical copy as well as digital, which was really handy because I find it’s much easier to spot mistakes on a printed page. I picked up some little errors: missing speech marks or commas, the occasional word which had accidentally been left in after the copy-edit stage. Previously, these are the kinds of things that would have irritated me as a reader, but now I’ve seen how extensively a book is amended and tweaked, I understand how easily they can slip through. Hopefully, having been through the rigorous process of being checked and double-checked by different professionals, the text will be perfect.

The proofs were about checking the fine detail of the text, but meanwhile another team of people were working on a more creative element: the book’s cover...

Cover Art

This is the initial black and white sketch which my editor sent me, along with colour samples showing the wintery blue colours and warm glowing lights the team were proposing for a colour scheme. This layout was the work of the designer, Natalie Chen, and I was delighted to approve it.

An illustrator, Giordano Poloni, was then commissioned to produce the scene on the front and back of jacket. It focuses on the fictional English Cotswold village of Willowbrook, where my story begins, with the main characters depicted as silhouettes at the front. Again, I was thrilled with the design. My only request, when this came through, was would it be possible to incorporate sewing elements, since the main character, Evie, owns a patchwork and quilting shop? Sewing plays an important part in the story, and Evie’s quilts and handmade creations are woven into the plot, so I was keen for this to be included in the artwork somehow. The designer came back with this:

Isn’t it beautiful? My book is described as ‘cosy women’s fiction’, and I think this cover encapsulates that perfectly. And the buttons and sewing needle were a stroke of genius!

Here’s the back cover:

What do you think? Can you see how already a whole group of people have worked closely on preparing my book for publication? Their expert contributions have all helped to refine it and package it in the most compelling way possible, and I feel privileged to be part of the Hodder team. I can't wait to hear what readers think of it when it's released in September.

Sophie.x

The Christmas Holiday will be published 19th September 2019 and is available for preorder here

Related posts:

The Publishing Process: Part 2: Copy-Edits by Sophie Claire

The Publishing Process Part 1: Edits by Sophie Claire

Good Things Come by Sophie Claire

Publishing Process: Part 2: Copy-Edits by Sophie Claire

This is the second in my series of posts about the publishing process (you can read the first one here) with a traditional publisher. As I take you through my journey, I hope to demystify the process and give you an idea of the work which goes into getting a book ready to hit the shelves.

A few weeks after I’d completed the edits for my book, The Christmas Holiday, I received the copy-edits. These were totally new to me, and to be honest I wasn’t prepared for them. I'd heard writers talking about them, but what were they exactly? How did they differ from proofreading? I think I had expected a few scribbles here and there, pointing out repetition and the like, but not many; after all, the manuscript had been read in detail by four people now and, because I’ve done some proofreading in the past, I like to think my work is fairly polished. Oh how wrong I was!

Copy-edits involve so much more than just spotting repetition. ‘The copy-editor’s brief is to ensure the text is ready for publication in terms of grammar, syntax, readability and consistency,’ I was told. My copy-editor deserves a gold medal for how thoroughly she went through the manuscript. She had taken clumsy sentence structures and made them flow more smoothly, and removed unnecessary words (‘both’ and ‘suddenly’, for example).

She spotted that I overuse the word ‘shot’ (it’s not a crime novel, honest) and thinned these out, she also deleted a lot of raised eyebrows, and how had I never noticed that all my characters begin their sentences with ‘So’? These were pruned of course.

The eagle-eyed copy-editor also noticed inconsistencies. For example, my heroine Evie sometimes had two dimples when she smiled and elsewhere just one. I decided to make it consistent, and stick with two. In

one scene Evie lets the hero’s Dalmatian out into the garden, then in the next line the dog’s eating his breakfast in the kitchen: in the margin was a note saying ‘you didn’t let the dog back in!’ Evie then helped herself to tea, when the hero only had hot chocolate and coffee in the cupboard. All these tiny niggles were spotted and addressed so the book can flow smoothly and (hopefully) there’s nothing left in there to jolt the reader out of the story.

Of course, not everything was as straightforward as the examples above, and some amendments were a question of style or personal preference. Occasionally, I felt the suggested changes weren’t right for my book or my voice, and in these cases I wrote ‘stet’ in the margin so it would remain unchanged.

Because I was scared of falling behind on the novel I'm currently writing, I chose to do these edits in the evenings and weekends. It wasn’t as taxing as writing; in fact, I secretly enjoyed it. And by the end of the process I felt my novel had been checked so thoroughly that there couldn’t possibly be anything left for the proofreader to correct (ha!). Next month I’ll tell you about those proofs, and also how the artwork was developed for the cover.

Sophie.x

The Christmas Holiday will be published 19th September 2019 and is available for pre-order here

Related posts:
The Publishing Process Part 1: Edits by Sophie Claire
Good Things Come by Sophie Claire

The Publishing Process: Part 1: Edits by Sophie Claire

Last month I blogged about the publishing deal I’ve just signed with Hodder & Stoughton (you can read that post here), and the Novelistas have asked me to write about the publishing process. Although I had a book published before with a small independent press and a couple of short stories in anthologies, this is my first experience of working with a large traditional publisher. A lot of the process is new to me, and I’m very excited about getting input from professionals: I'm certain that my book, The Christmas Holiday, will be all the better for it. As I take you through my journey, I hope to demystify the process and show how much work goes into polishing a book before it’s ready to hit the shelves.

First up: Edits

I had heard terrifying stories about writers who were asked to completely overhaul their plots or rewrite a character, and often in less than a month, so I nervously awaited my editor's email. However, when it arrived I was relieved because there was nothing major and no structural changes. (I’m lucky that I wrote The Christmas Holiday in my own time without any deadline pressures, and my agent Megan had also been through it and suggested minor changes to improve it).

I was asked to add a couple of new scenes, but mostly, my edits were about deleting repetition and adding depth; that is, revealing little snippets of additional backstory which help explain characters’ behaviour. I was careful not to fall into the trap of adding too much: I’ve learned over the years that a couple of lines or a paragraph are usually enough.

What I didn’t expect in my edits were little comments marking the bits my editor especially liked – a passage that was particularly tense or an emotional scene she found moving. I was grateful for these, because it’s good to know what you’re doing right. So I made the edits, read through the book again, making sure it made sense (any writer knows, the smallest change can have a knock-on effect: no one wants their characters referring to an event that’s been deleted, for example) and sent the book back.

Then I waited to hear.

I had told myself I’d get straight back to writing book 5 (this one does have a deadline), but it was surprisingly difficult to concentrate until I’d heard if my edits were approved. I forced myself to sit at my desk each day, but my mind was elsewhere, worrying. Was what I’d done good enough? Should I have added more? Would my editor send me a second round of revisions? And if so, how many rounds should I expect?

After two days I couldn’t bear the waiting (I know, I really need to learn patience!) so I emailed the Novelistas asking how long does it normally take – days or weeks? ‘How long is a piece of string?’, said Trisha Ashley. Everyone agreed: it depends on the book’s schedule, your editor and their workload at the time. I knew I had to be patient.

Later that same day my editor got back to me (see? I should have been patient!) saying she was delighted with my revisions, and there were just a few tweaks left. I did these the same morning, and sent them off. The next stage would be copy-edits, which I’ll talk about next month, but for now I could get back to writing book 5.

Sophie.x

Good Things Come by Sophie Claire

I’m so pleased to tell you I’ve signed a three-book deal with Hodder & Stoughton.

There have been tears of joy, celebrations, and just a few nerves at the prospect of deadlines. 

It’s a dream come true, but it didn’t happen overnight. 

Oh no. 

There’s been so much waiting, nail-biting and doubt along the way, but I hope my story gives comfort to others that there is always hope. 

So here’s how it came about:

A brief background

My first novel, Her Forget-Me-Not Ex, was published in 2015 by a small press. It sold well, much better than I expected in fact, but it had always been my goal to have an agent, so when I finished my second book I sent it out. I signed with Megan Carroll of Watson, Little Literary Agency in March 2016. Megan loved my second book, a summery friends-to-lovers story set in Provence. She approached publishers with it, and although we had a few near misses and really positive feedback, it didn’t sell. I won’t lie, this was disheartening (for both of us – it’s easy to overlook how passionately agents represent their clients and how much work they do on their behalf).

During months of not hearing anything, I had to keep the faith, be patient (I’m not very good at that) and keep writing. 

And then…

On the bright side, the submissions process is a slow one, and by the time Megan had exhausted her list of publishers, I had almost finished writing my third book (a Christmas story, set partly in England and in Provence). I’m glad I did because book 3 attracted more interest, including offers from two publishers. 

Celebrate!

I was utterly thrilled and, after Megan’s call, I confess there were a few tears. This was what I’d been working towards for the last fifteen years, after all.

I signed with Hodder & Stoughton, who will publish The Christmas Holiday in October this year, re-release my first novel (under a new title) next year, and publish a third book which I’m currently writing in time for Christmas 2020. 

Yet to come

I’ve already begun working with my editor and her team, and I’m thrilled with how it’s going. Although I’ve been published before, Hodder & Stoughton is a large traditional publisher, and a lot of the process is new to me. I never realised so much work went into bringing a book to publication beyond the author writing ‘The End’. It’s exciting to be getting input from so many experienced professionals, and I know my book will be all the better for it.

The Novelistas have asked me to blog about the process of bringing a book to publication, so over the next few months I’ll be sharing my experiences with you.

One of the things I love about writing is that I’m constantly learning, and I hope that never stops.

Sophie.x

Our Fab-Yule-ous Decorations...

In which the Novelistas tell us about their favourite Christmas decorations!

And if you'd like the chance to win a fabulous Novelistas' book bundle, scroll down to the end of this post and we'll tell you how!

Trisha Ashley

My Santa tree topper is made of painted papier-mâché and is over a hundred years old. I know this, because it was bought with her pocket money by my mother's older sister when she was a little girl, and my mother is now 93... His red suit has faded into a soupy brown over the years, but in a misguided moment Mum tarted him up with glitter glue and a cotton wool beard.

Valerie-Anne Baglietto

My sweet and sorry-looking little snowman has graced the mantelpiece during the festive season for several years now, since my daughter ‘adopted’ it at her primary school Christmas fayre. Another child had made it anonymously, but out of all the other sock snowmen for sale it was the one my little girl chose to bring home, and somewhere along the line it lost an eye, yet that only makes it more precious. I wish that anonymous child somewhere could know that their creation found a good home with us, but I suppose that child is a stroppy teenager by now who might not care (although secretly in their heart, I hope they do!)

Annie Burrows 

I don't have a favourite ornament. But every year I do tend to pick up a few new ones. This year's addition to my Christmas collection is this cute Santa doormat!

Sophie Claire

Many years ago, before I was married, my future mother-in-law taught me how to make these hand-sewn decorations. Back then my day job wasn’t creative, so I was thrilled when after a couple of hours I had made something – and that’s when I caught the sewing bug.

Over the years I’ve moved on to bigger projects like patchwork quilts, but each Christmas I return to making these little decorations. I love to personalise them, picking fabrics with particular friends and family in mind, and when the children were small they used to help too, cutting out circles of fabric.

Making these decorations has become an important part of my Christmas preparations and I really look forward to cosy evenings spent stitching in front of the fire.

Beth Francis

In the late 1940s, a group of young German children were brought from their bombed-out cities to my home town to stay with local families for a few months. My grandmother looked after two of them.

They never forgot her, and every Christmas they would send a card with a small gift for her grandchildren. One year there was an advent calendar, rare here at that time; no one else in our street had one. Another year we were sent a tiny doll. Dressed with scraps from my mother’s sewing box, she has topped our Christmas tree ever since. She’s old and faded, but conjures up so many memories of Christmas over the past seventy years that she’s irreplaceable.

June Francis

Last year I visited Liverpool's Anglican cathedral shop just before Christmas and my eyes alighted on these bright sparkling miniature glass Christmas trees. I just had to have one. After buying one, I thought my tree lacked an angel, so I went around the shop and discovered a host of angels. I chose Angel Florence, thinking of my father's sister Florence who was found drowned in the Leeds Liverpool canal during the Second World War.

My middle name is Florence and I like to think of my aunt looking out for me, my sort of guardian angel.

Juliet Greenwood

The Christmas decoration with special memories is the fairy that stood on the top of each Christmas Tree for as long as I can remember. Since I was a little girl, it was always tied on first, before the tree went up. Then came the lights, followed by the tinsel and the rest of the decorations. Those old family Christmases have long gone, but I have inherited the fairy, along with some of the other decorations, which are now interspersed with ones I’ve collected over the years. So the day the fairy goes up on top of the tree is still the day Christmas begins.

Cheryl Lang

My favourite Christmas ornaments are two snowmen and a later addition of a little girl. This is me being sentimental. When my first son arrived, he was only a couple of months old for his first Christmas, so we had to have a tree. I began collecting baubles and I found a jolly snowman and decided this was his special one. Some years later when son number 2 arrived, I remembered the snowman and amazingly found another one. Go forward a number of years, my daughter arrived and before her first Christmas I found this little girl with blonde plaits. This, I imagined might be how she’d look in a few years’ time.

Louise Marley

When I was little my father would take me everywhere - probably to give my poor mother a break - and I can remember going into a petrol station when I was about four, seeing this Nativity scene and falling in love with it. I don't know why. Perhaps I thought it was some kind of dolls' house. But my father bought it for me and I spent many happy hours playing with it - until I was told it had to be packed away because it was a 'Christmas decoration'! But it came out again the following year, and the year after that, and perhaps this is why it has lasted so many years. The Star of Bethlehem fell off very quickly, to be replaced by a milk bottle top, and at some point I lost one of the sheep. And a few years back my husband accidentally crunched it underfoot! But a bit of Superglue later and it was soon as good as new!

Related Posts:

All I Want for Christmas (Group Post)

Rum Cake and Tinsel (Trisha Ashley)

A Christmas Gift from The Novelistas! (Group Post)

How Grandma Invented Christmas (Louise Marley)

Christmas Traditions (Cheryl Lang)

Tips for Being a Domestic Writer-Goddess at Christmas (Group Post)

My Favourite Christmas Tradition (Sophie Claire)

A Satsuma and a Sugar Mouse (Trisha Ashley)

Competition!

Win a Novelistas' Book Bundle!

If you'd like to be in with a chance to win a Novelistas' Book Bundle you can enter via Rafflecopter below. It's simple to use and the more clicks (follow us on Twitter, follow us on Facebook, etc) the more chances you have to win. The competition will run from 9th December to 16th December 2018. Due to the pressure on the postal system at this time of year, we're afraid your prize will probably arrive after Christmas!

Terms and Conditions: We're sorry but this competition is only open to those living in the UK. No alternative prize will be offered. Your personal details won't be stored for longer than the competition runs and your details won't be passed onto anyone else. We will only contact you if you are a winner. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours of being notified, another name will be drawn.

Tips: It sometimes helps if you are already logged onto Facebook or Twitter before you try to enter. If you have trouble entering via a mobile phone, try a laptop/desktop computer instead. If you don't wish to use the Rafflecopter app, you can also enter via our Facebook page.

Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Plotting: Wrong Way or 'Write' Way? by Sophie Claire

Are you a plotter or a pantser? (If you're not sure what I'm talking about, there's a good explanation here)

I’m a wannabe plotter. 

I would love to be able to sit down and plan a book. I wish that before I started I could produce a neat map detailing exactly how the plot will unfold, when and how the characters will develop and change, and which obstacles they will face and overcome. And with every story I write, I try to do this.

Unfortunately, my mind doesn’t work that way.

My plot outlines are usually hazy with two-dimensional characters and predictable situations. 

It’s only as I write that the characters come alive and usually throw my plan out the window to take new, unexpected routes of their own choosing. Which is great. There’s nothing better than a character who knows their own mind and has their own unique fears and dreams and opinions. And if they surprise me, then hopefully they’ll surprise the reader too.

But to get to the point where my characters become fully developed like this involves a lot of hard work: hours spent at the computer, writing scenes which will later be deleted. 

In essence, I write, scrap what I’ve written, then rewrite and rewrite again. I have to explore a lot of dead ends before I find the right way. 

It’s a time-consuming process, and I used to berate myself for not getting it right first time. I wished there was a trusted and experienced professional would read my synopsis and instantly spot the flaws. A fairy godmother who would give me advice (kill off the ex-girlfriend, increase the conflict here, raise the stakes there…) which would save me months of work.

Over time, however, I’ve realised that no one has a magic wand, and this is simply my method of writing. 

It feels scary, fumbling around in the dark, struggling with a story for weeks and months. When it's not going well, writing feels like the loneliest job in the world. I feel lost and alone, I question why I ever started this novel...

                               – then, suddenly, a bulb lights up and everything falls into place.

This has been the process with each of the last 3 books I’ve written, and I’m finally learning to accept it. To keep the faith and keep writing even if what I write today will be deleted tomorrow. Now, rather than seeing these scrapped scenes as wasted pages or wrong turns, I understand that they’re invaluable for getting to know my characters and understanding what makes them tick.

So that when I find the right path, I’m certain it’s right. 

What's your writing method? Are you happy with it?

Sophie.x

www.sophieclaire.co.uk

Photos copyright: Sophie Claire and Pixabay

My First Writing Retreat by Sophie Claire

Do you ever wonder how much you could achieve if you weren’t constantly interrupted by the demands of daily life and could concentrate solely on your writing? Well last weekend I did just that when I went on a writing retreat for the first time. It wasn’t anything official – just a group of us who booked into a Bed & Breakfast in the grounds of a monastery in Yorkshire.

Beforehand, I was excited at the prospect of immersing myself in writing for 3 days and being in the company of writer friends, although I must admit I was a bit nervous too about not having my usual desktop (I borrowed a laptop) or a printer, and also, would it be too intense? Would I be the naughty one who was always stopping for cups of tea and distracting the others? (*coughs* that did happen, but I think they were happy to stop – and eat flapjacks!).

The orchard (the monks produce their own apple juice)

The vegetable patch

I needn’t have worried. The technology worked, and I was at my desk at 8am each morning.

Away from my usual routine, I was really productive and more focused; although we had internet, I wasn’t as tempted as usual and enjoyed the uninterrupted stretches of time to write – what a luxury.

My word count steadily increased, but regular breaks were essential, so I explored the monastery grounds, which were surprisingly big for a town site.

The whole place had a very peaceful atmosphere, with benches dotted around everywhere, inviting you to sit and contemplate...

...Encouraging you to slow down, and live in the moment.

By the third day I felt immersed in my story and with this came a feeling of deep calm. It reminded me of when I took part in NaNoWriMo last year – I experienced the same freeing up of the imagination and shutting off of the inner critic, allowing my imagination space to simply create.
I could hear the outside world, the cars and buses trundling past on the main road nearby, yet I felt cocooned here and apart. Cloistered, is the word, I suppose.

The church bells rang four times a day and they soon became a familiar background noise, also calming. Out of curiosity we went to evensong, which was beautiful and the monks were very welcoming. (I kept setting my alarm to go to 6.45am matins too, but I confess I never made it!)

The church

Anne Stenhouse, Sophie Claire, Kate Blackadder
& Helena Fairfax

After evensong we headed out to eat in the local pub, where we soon became regulars.

Unlike the monks’ meals, these were not silent!


The four of us had lots to catch up on, writing projects to discuss, ideas to share. All good fun and inspiring.


The whole experience was very liberating and productive. We all agreed that we’d like to do it again and I look forward to that.

Have you ever been on a writing retreat? How was your experience? 

Sophie.x

Links:
Anne Stenhouse
Kate Blackadder
Helena Fairfax
Sophie Claire