Last weekend, I went to a one-day women's writing retreat at St. Mary College in Moraga (got a sweet little scholarship to attend). The retreat is called Bridging, it's in partnership with Hedgebrook, and I recommend it. Plenty of dedicated writing time in beautiful spaces, low-key community building, solid craft talks, plus meals & snacks & drinks. Karen Joy Fowler gave the realest keynote I've ever heard: on starting "late," being lazy, having no disciplined daily practice, not being the best but ultimately being the toughest. Three ways in which writers commonly, easily fail are 1) not writing; 2) not finishing; 3) not sending out. So it's helpful to ask yourself, How am I failing to be a writer today? It's usually one of these things, and it's usually easy to fix.
In rejection news, I received a kind refusal from the New Orleans Writers Residency (but my talented pal Tia was accepted!), and I will not be going to the MacDowell Colony any time soon, apparently. Oh, and I didn't win the Chicago Tribune fiction contest. But I applied for a potential dream gig, sent a story right back out to three more pubs, and wrote my ass off.
Here's Robyn, explaining rejection.
