I’m just back from a Novel Revision Retreat in San Rafael, CA. What a great time. I always learn so much from other writers.

• My suite-mate wasn’t taking my class, but I watched her hunker down for a weekend of writing and learned that sometimes solitude is just as helpful as working in a group.



• I learned all over again, that critique groups can be more honest and more helpful than anyone expects.
• I learned that continuing a group after a retreat like this means commitment to common goals. We talked about how to extend those goals by creating rituals (For example, a Friday check-in to see how you did that week, as the Summer Revision Smackdown has done.)
• I learned that it is San Ra-FELL, not San RA-fey-ELL. And that is in ma-WREN County, not MARE-in County.
• I learned that young men liked to read Tom Sawyer because they fell in love with Becky Thatcher. (Thanks, Howie, for a great laugh!)
• I learned that we all need to do a better job of sharing information about advances. If you’ve sold a picture book in the last five years, I urge you to fill out Barbara’s Kanninen’s survey. If you do, she will send you a copy of the most recent results of that survey.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Extended Novel Revision Retreat

The San Francisco chapter of the SCBWI is hosting a Novel Revision Retreat on July 16-19, 2009, but there’s one twist. It will be an extended retreat, lasting one day longer than normal.

There’s never enough time! If you’ve attended a retreat, you’ve heard me say that over and over. Revising a novel takes time to think and to work. By starting on a Thursday, this retreat slows down the pace and allows time for reflection and writing.

No, you won’t get your novel revised that long weekend, but you’ll get a better handle on it. There will be time to rewrite and get some feedback on your novel and discuss things more fully.

Space is limited, as usual, but there are still openings. Check out the retreat information page.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Shrunken Manuscript at Illinois Novel Revision Retreat

Take Time to Revise

Jim Danielson, who attended last weekend’s Illinois retreat, has also posted a picture of a shrunken manuscript.

Here are other links for the Shrunken Manuscript technique:

• Instructions for the Shrunken Manuscript Technique
• Shrunken manuscript v. Spreadsheet plotting

Intensive feedback, like you get in a weekend retreat, can be overwhelming and after a while, I know I would tend to shut down and just nod and not understand what someone was saying. It’s important to take time later to rethink all the comments you wrote down.

Jim is planning to use the shrunken manuscript to check several issues in his story. Likewise, I know other participants are rereading their manuscripts and hearing the voices of their critique partners in their heads.

Revisions take time: time to give up something you clung to even though it wasn’t working, time to re-envision your story, time to work out the details of the changes needed, time to fall in love with your characters again, time to do the work needed.

Writing is a Business

I also heard from a participant in last month’s Oklahoma picture book retreat. The last session there was about the career of writing. We discussed the realities of submission, contracts, and the fate of midlist books. I suggested the writers read, The Good Girl’s Guide to Negotiations. (Only two participants were men!)

Too many times, I see women writers play tea party in negotiations, to their own detriment.

So – one writer wrote to say that an agent had given her a personal rejection letter. Not the first time this has happened. But it’s the first time the writer immediately sent a second manuscript, which addressed the concerns of the letter in fresh ways.

Yes! Stand up for yourself and your career! No one cares about it as much as you do and if you don’t push for acceptance of your stories, why should anyone else?

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Western Washington SCBWI Retreat: Voice

The retreat was great. There were about 40-45 people there and they were split into two groups. Group A came to me, while Group B went to Patti Gauch, then we swapped for the same presentation again. I sorta knew how Patti would approach voice (and I might have done many of the same things if she hadn’t been there), so I deliberately took a different tack and I think it enriched the experience for the participants. Then, I did a short intro to writing with scenes, more a reminder that this is an option than an indepth study.

The Alderbrook Resort was a great venue, right on the Hood Canal. From the restaurant, you could see a small stream feeding into the canal and we watched salmon swimming up the stream to spawn. Wow! Amazing to this land-locked Arkansan!

Thanks to Jolie Steckly and Sara Easterly for a fabulous job putting this together. (And to Sara’s new daughter, Violet Grace, for giving great cuddles.) And of course, thanks to Jamie Temairik, their assistant and fabulous illustrator.

And Thanks to all those who attended and inspired me with their energy, love of words and attention to detail!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

I’ll be speaking a couple times this month. Stop by and say hello!

Say Hello

• Weekend on the Water, Western Washington SCBWI Professional Retreat. This retreat, I’ll be teaching about Voice and Scenes.
• Arkansas Curriculum Conference, Little Rock, AR. Geared toward teachers, I”ll be presenting PAPER LIGHTNING: Prewriting Activities to Spark Creativity to English Language Arts teachers and talking about using The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman and Searching for Oliver K. Woodman in social studies classes.

Sign up for RSS feed

When the retreat and conference are over, we’ll be celebrating my mother-in-law’s 85th birthday. So, I’ll be offline for a couple days. Sign up for my RSS feed, so you don’t miss me when I get back.

New Page for Downloads

Meanwhile, to make it easy for you, I’ve put all the downloadable FREE files and Ebooks onto one page. Look here.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win