I had the pleasure of attending Rainforest Writers Village for the first time this year. We worked hard, played hard and a staggering number of words were created between us. I (surprise surprise) talked about Roller Derby a bit and discovered (unsurprisingly) that quite a few writers give pretty good hip checks (yes I may have run around and bumped people a teeny tiny bit!).

I wrote a little under 10,000 words, which is less than I had hoped, but a satisfying amount in 4 days (especially as I lean towards slow writing). The workshops, organized and spontaneous were excellent and Christie Yant facilitated a writing exercise every night that should make the world of fiction a more interesting place.

It was wonderful to spend time with so many amazing people, old friends and new. It makes me excited about the world of fiction. It makes me very grateful to Patrick for organizing such an event every year and I see why it normally sells out in seconds.

I got two bits of exciting news back to back on the first day, the day of most silent virtue and nearly exploded with unspoken squeee. Everyone was working so hard, I didn’t want to interrupt them, so I went outside and ran around and around until I could calm down!

Achievements beyond word count include writing a complete short story, exploring a middle grade book I might write (discovering its flaws and how the outline needs a radical restructure). Exploratory word chunks. Revising and resubmitting a short story.

I ran out of battery for my camera phone, so I borrowed other phones to go on a Bosun Ducky picture taking extravaganza… which is code for MORE PHOTOS TO COME!!!