Today’s title is a direct quote from my favorite podcast, Writing Excuses. (Except for the part in parentheses.) In case you haven’t heard of it, it’s been running since 2008, when (at the time) little known writers Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler started chatting about a writerly topic per episode. Short and snappy, (“15 Minutes long, because you’re in a hurry, and we’re not that smart”), informative and fun, it was ideal for a newbie writer like myself, who didn’t have the time or patience for long podcasts.
Writing Excuses (WX) is now in season 19, still interesting, and working with a regularly changing cast of hosts, still led by Howard and the amazing [1] Mary Robinette Kowal who joined the group in 2010.
But today’s post is not about the podcast itself. Besides the writing advice discussed in the podcast, WX at some point started offering workshops and retreats for writers, often on cruises. Sometimes, episodes were recorded there, and it always sounded intriguing, but also out of reach for me for a variety of reasons, not the least being geographically.
So when this year, my year of investment into my writing craft, the news popped up that WX was doing a retreat almost next door, in Scotland, I decided to go for it.
What a great decision.
Caption for the retreat was “Research, Writing, and Swordplay”, all three of which suited me just fine. Instructors were Mary Robinette, and Erin Roberts [2], both fabulous writers, and good teachers. And along for the ride were twelve other writers, all wonderful people, all more or less in the same stage of their writing journey as myself, some published, some not.
Location was MacArthur Manor in Blairgowrie, near Edinburgh, upscale in a comfortably restrained way.[3] Here some pics:
We spent the five days with activities, presentations, crit sessions, writing, or just talking. Activities included eating haggis with a real Scottish chieftain, ceilidh dancing, and, my personal highlight, HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts) sword-fighting with two of the UKs best HEMA fighters and teachers:
It almost looks as if I knew what I was doing, doesn’t it? When I write my next scenes containing swords, I’ll know exactly what it feels like when steels hits steel, or when a beginner faces a master.
My goal for the retreat wasn’t to get a lot of writing done; for me, besides the learning, it was a networking opportunity with fellow writers both “young” and pro. As with the writing communities, my hope was that the shared experience would stick, and so far, it looks good – a bunch of us started another Discord server, and we have been helping each other out in writing matters.
Bottom line: it was a wonderful experience, in an amazing place with wonderful people. (I wrote that before, didn’t I?) If WXR ever comes to Europe again, I’ll certainly be considering going again. And if I find a different English-language writers’ retreat not too far away, maybe I can expand my horizons?
And now I’m out of excuses, so I’ll go write.
Notes:
[1] Pretty much everyone mentioned in this post, by name or not, deserves that adjective, so I won’t be using it every time. Consider Mary Robinette extra-amazing.
[2] She’s extra-amazing, too.
[3] Also amazing, including the staff. And no, I’m not receiving any kickback for the endorsement, I just liked it.