Tag Archives: wine

The Restless Writers Regroup

We Restless Writers gave ourselves a long-overdue collective bitch slap at our last meeting. We had become negligent in our pages and, more often than not, we were holding meetings at a pub rather than our houses. This was very conducive to discussing the state of our butts, jobs and marriages, but our writing? Not so much.

In addition to laying down some serious ground rules (heads up, Wordbitches: we’re timing ourselves now!), we discussed what exactly each of us is hoping to accomplish at our monthly meetings. This is what we came up with:

Maria:
Our short story maven and resident smarty pants. Maria is an excellent editor and enjoys brainstorming elements of other people’s work to make them better. She’s hoping to turn one of her many amazing short stories into a novel, but is happy to act as sounding board/coach/motivator until she finds her writing groove.

Beckie:
BJas continues to kick some serious query ass on her completed YA novel and has also started a new project. This is particularly exciting for me (Lori) because when I met Beckie, she was already revising her YA novel. Being involved in her process during these early stages has been very fun and inspiring.

Lori:
I, too, am in a querying hell phase, so it’s great to have fellow writers with whom I can commiserate/celebrate. I’ve embarked on a new project for children and having Beckie’s experience in the genre is proving invaluable. Between her savviness and Maria’s editing prowess, I may just get something on the shelves.

We also decided that a writing retreat is in order this summer – the objectives of which can be summed up thusly: B&B; laptops; and wine.

LD

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We’re 1 year old and already toilet trained!

It was a year ago that our little band of restless writers was born. We met like most people do these days – online. I posted a ‘group wanted’ notice on Brian Henry’s most excellent blog and the rest is history.

Beckie is our social media maven – a commenting crusader who tweets ‘til it hurts. Without her, our following would likely be limited to immediate relatives and each other.

Maria is the queen of the quill – an enormously talented and technical writer with a limitless supply of resources for writers in all stages of their vocation.

And me? I just write about how I never have the time or space to write.

Since coming together last year, we have collectively:
· Revised a 300-page women’s fiction manuscript
· Consumed over 20 bottles of wine while scarfing 8 rounds of brie
· Revised a young adult fiction manuscript and children’s non-fiction proposal
· Guzzled Sangria as we nibbled on truckloads of baguettes (with associated dips)
· Uttered, “Holy crap!” countless times when reading Maria’s charmingly disturbing short stories
· Convinced Maria that at least 3 of her short stories must become full novels
· Drank enough Strongbow Cider to fill a hot tub

Our second year looks to be even more promising, with writing conferences and retreats in the works (and, of course, lots of wine). I hope you all keep dropping by our blog…we’ve loved having you…

As for you, Beckie and Maria: happy anniversary…I love you, bitches!

Lori

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