I managed to squeeze out a day-and-a-half to come early to the Bay Area so I could do a writing retreat (or writing boot camp, as Alex Gurevich calls it), between the end of semester and the holidays. It was wildly productive — I drafted an entire story on the first day (with a consultation with Alex that really sped up my figuring out the plot, which is not my strength), and got a good ways into a second story on the second day.
I have GOT to figure out how to get myself to write fiction more regularly, especially short fiction. Topic for another post.
We also had time in the evening, when our writing brains were kaput for the day, to drive over to Berkeley to have dinner with Dan and Nadya and Rebecca (whom I was just meeting). Wonderful time at a little local Korean / Japanese place, Spoon, which reminded me how much I like bibimbap — I should try to learn how to cook it, it’s full of veggies and rice goodness, and I had it with spicy seafood, delicious. Great flavors.
I also really enjoyed talking to Nadya (an artist) about how to be an artist. She’s in a different place from me, but they’re sort of similar points on the same journey? I’d like to think less about money and commercial demands and have more of those conversations in 2024. Filling the artistic well.
Morning view from Alex’s place, the second day.
