Monday, June 29, 2009

Tess' Top 5 Things She Learned

*

I sat all alone on a mountainside for four days and here are the top five things I learned:


ONE: That hottie ski instructor at the swanky resort in the winter is the same unemployed bum sitting on the condo step smoking a joint in the summer. Not so hot.


TWO: I live in one of the most beautiful places in the world.


THREE: When I sit down and force myself to write for 8 hours straight, nothing but trash comes from my pen for the last two and a half hours. Unsalvageable, unredeemable trash. Good to know.


FOUR: On the flip side, those first five and a half hours produce fairly decent stuff. Turns out, I have some pretty cool ideas when my mind is left alone to wander....completely uninterrupted and free from mommy-guilt. Who knew?


FIVE: I love my blogging friends. I love checking in on you, seeing what you are learning and thinking. I love hearing from you in the comments section. There was no Internet access at my mountain condo and I missed you guys!
*

27 comments:

kah said...

AWWW. I'm so depressed about the hottie ski instructor. Scratch him off my list for future husband candidates. But, YAY for some R&R and alone time! Glad you got some great writing done. Just remember, even the "crap" helps you practice. And you know what they say about praactice... :)
We missed you too.

Anonymous said...

We missed you too, Tess!!! I'm glad those first 5+ hours yielded some beautiful fruit. I have the opposite problem, the first few hours are crap thrown on the fields of my mind and the last few are liquid gold spilled from the pen.

I'm glad you had a good time but I'm glad you're back!!

Sherry Dale Rogers said...

Yeah, that sucks about the ski intructor, maybe the new guy will be better once this guy gets dropped for failing his drugscreen. I have to say I missed you too. Congrats on the writing.

lotusgirl said...

Glad you had a productive time! I was gone too, but I got no writing done at all. It was still good, and I could call it reconnaissance. I observed some great stuff at Youth Conference. There could be a story in there somewhere.

Jeannie Campbell, LMFT said...

yay for 5.5 hours of writing utterly wonderful prose and dialogue! i'm SO SO SO SO SO jealous. still. did i mention i'm jealous? :)

Wendy Paine Miller said...

Tess, I love hearing how other people learn and WHAT they learn. Number 1 had me cracking up.
~ Wendy

Scott said...

Glad you're back. Too bad about the hottie ski instructor!

I think we only have a finite amount of writing time per day. I can always tell when mine runs out, because the crap starts to flow . . . freely.

S

PJ Hoover said...

Your number 1 is hilarious and SO true. It just cracks me up. I haven't written for 8 hours straight in a while, but our minds definitely hit a wall.
Have fun!

Cynthia Willis said...

Hi Tess!
It's so nice to meet you, too! YES! We do have the same agent! And I LOVE your book trailer. A NAME LIKE LOVE looks like an amazing book and I can't wait to read it! Thanks for finding my blog!

Michelle said...

We're glad you're back too! Alone time for writing is great, isn't it?

Cindy R. Wilson said...

We missed you, too! I'm glad you had some productive writing time and learned what works for you.

B.J. Anderson said...

We missed you, too! That's so cool that you had a good time. I have got to do this one of these days.

Tess said...

Yes, too bad about the ski instructor (not that I was looking, but ya know...)

And, I'm glad I'm not the only one who has a brain mush wall after which writing is completely fruitless.

Now I don't have to feel bad about managing my work with shorter writing stints :D

Can't wait to do a little blog surfing today and see what ya'll are up to...

Angie Ledbetter said...

Lotsa good learning on that mountainside!

Kate Karyus Quinn said...

Wow, what a cool thing to do, and it sounds like you got a ton accomplished!

I also spent this past weekend in the mountains, but I was there for a wedding and staying in a small hotel room with my husband and toddler... so, um, it was a little less productive than yours;)

Amy Allgeyer Cook said...

:) missed you!!

Michelle D. Argyle said...

Well I certainly missed you too! I wish I could go on a retreat like that. It sounds absolutely amazing. We should, uh, do that together sometime... *wink*

Tricia J. O'Brien said...

Sounds like it was productive on many levels. Sometimes the stuff we learn about ourselves and the writing process is as useful as the actual words on paper. But you got words on paper, too! Glad it was a good experience and welcome back.

Robyn Campbell said...

You could'a taken us with! Glad your time(well, 5.5 hours or so) was productive. I'm like that too, Tess. I'm good for 5 and it's all down hill from then on out. Welcome back. Too bad about the hottie. Oh well! :)

lisa and laura said...

Yay for time to relax and write! We missed you! Glad to have you back in the blogosphere.

Dave said...

Days alone on a mountain sounds cool. That would be quite a contrast from life as it is right now. Heck, a couple of hours would be great. I should go for a walk right now. Thanks for the post.

Anita said...

Weird...my best writing comes AFTER I've been writing about five hours. Problem is, I rarely have time to write that long. Soon, though. Soon. You've inspired me to find a way!

Davin Malasarn said...

:) Welcome home, Tess! I'm glad you got some good writing done and learned more about how you work. I think life is so much simpler when you know when your best writing times are. You don't force yourself into doing stuff that's counterproductive. I want to take time away like you did. It sounds great.

Danyelle L. said...

Missed you too, Tess. :D It's always good to learn more about yourself. :D

Crystal said...

Tess, I'm so glad you had a chance to get away & work on your writing. And it's good to hear it turned out to be productive for your work-in-progress.

And thanks SO MUCH for stopping by my blog before you left, Tess. I really appreciated your concern. You are so thoughtful! I replied to you on my blog but don't know if you've seen it so I'm writing some of it here again. I know I haven't posted in a while & will make up for it very soon. I did miss it! But it's been crazy hectic around my house. My two girls both graduated from their respective schools 2 weeks ago, and then, on Father's Day, my husband's father passed away. And my husband took it VERY HARD. So . . . I've been trying as best I can to help him through his grief. But I know it takes time. We attended the wake & funeral last week in Connecticut & I'm pooped.

Tess, thanks again for your thoughtfulness! As well as a fellow writer, you are a true online friend. :)

Tess said...

Crystal - thanks for coming by and I am so sorry for your loss. You certainly have had a lot on your plate and I hope things ease up for you soon. Wishes for peace.

Crystal said...

Thanks for your wishes, Tess. I hope to start back to blogging soon--sometime this week, I hope.