I got to take off this past weekend for a writers’ retreat with folks from Tavern Tall Tales. It was a bit of an adventure. We talked shop, swapped stories, and gave each other writing/publishing advice. The whole weekend was a great get away.
The Tavern Tall Tales writers group took a trip last year to Broken Bow and decided they wanted to do it again this year. I missed out last time so I set aside the weekend. After work (and some quick ‘keep it legal’ mowing), I drove down (or up for a lot of the trip). Driving in, I kept getting massive lifted trucks with their brights on stationed approximately a foot behind my bumper. No amount of speed satisfied their desire for my rear-end. At one point I tried to take a turn and nearly went into a ditch from their disregard for my momentum. To make matters worse, there is nearly no where to turn around. You either have no shoulder and a straight cliff into nothingness or massive deer walls that kept me pinned in.
Just before getting to BB, my map program told me to take “Sweet Home Road”. I thought this was the cabin’s road so I pulled off. Turns out it is a few feet shorter than driving through town proper. It’s also a one lane deathtrap. Huge hills, no shoulder (this one was made of boulders and trees), and the speed limit was 45 miles per hour. I made my cursing quota for the month in about quarter mile. The cabin was located just outside of the tourist town nestled in the woods. I arrived just in time to go to bed.
Saturday morning, the chief was up early making everyone eggs. He kept us fed all day. After getting caffeinated and meeting the other writers, we set out for a walk around the camp site. It was a kind of peculiar area since most of the cabin lots are permanent rentals. Like a village of all out-of-town folks? It was a perfect day for hike though. We shared our worldbuilding tips with each other as well as just shared role-playing-game stories. I even shared the premise for this next month’s Tavern Tall Tales Rizald story.
We ended up chatting, taking naps, and even writing over the course of the afternoon. I wrote 1,500 words for a brand-new story (coming soon: oink oink). I didn’t manage as much progress on my chapter book as I was originally hoping. However, it was a great time to unwind. That night, as we ate steak sandwiches, we just took it easy and enjoyed nature. Some of it even joined us. An armadillo came right through our camp area. We talked about our lives and writing more over a few drinks as the night progressed (some of us may have had more than a few). I ended the night making hourly jaunts to the restroom to think about getting sick (didn’t!).
Besides writing and fellowship, I also finished reading a book. It is the first of the Demonata series, Lord Loss. It is about a young kid whose family gets murdered by demons. He ends up having to move in with his monster fighting uncle. I enjoyed it so much I immediately started Demon Thief right after it. Which has also been really fun.
After another great breakfast of biscuits and gravy (one of my favorites), we packed up and cleared out. Driving in at night, I had missed most of the beautiful countryside. It was great to just drive through the area in the day. Not just because I didn’t have anyone tailgating me this time either. The crowds for the solar eclipse were rolling into town as we were leaving so the roads home were clear.
All in all, a successful weekend! I spent some time today sending out stories to different publications. Hoping I’ll hear good news on at least one of them. For now, I’m going to try and finish out three short stories that are all about 75% done. Each one should make for a sizable chunk of my anthology I’m putting together. They have been floating in the 5-9,000 words region each. My plan is to get them done by this weekend so I can send even more submissions out next week.
Thanks for reading! I’ll update if anything gets accepted.
Calculating Normals 