OK, here’s how the retreat wrapped up…
Days: 6 with the first one really spent figuring out how I was going to organize myself and write during this retreat (harder than it sounds), and 5 focused on serious writing and revision
New words written: 25,000+
Words reviewed and revised: 83,000+ (including reviews of the new 25K every morning the day after each batch was written)
Conundrums, obstacles, and wrinkles overcome: numerous
Actual, true “Holy crap, that makes sense/I figured it out/that’s what needs to happen!” epiphanies: at least 5-6 really big ones
Daily record: 6,700+ words
Black bear cubs seen: 1, about 40 feet away
Built-in teasers, clues, plot points, bits of text, and future callbacks for the rest of the quartet: Loads
Maps drawn: 2 because if you don’t have the map, you have no idea how long it will take to get somewhere and you get into some serious inconsistencies (wait…did I say they headed north to get there before? Rewrite rewrite rewrite)
Anticipated words still be written in this book: 55,000 to 60,000 based on the outline (holy crap…when will there be time?!)
Number of times I’ve been grateful to ,y wife for suggesting that I investigate a writing retreat and being willing to have me gone for a full week: Innumerable
Hours until I hit the road home: 1.5
The number of books I absolutely will finish writing this year: 1
The number of books I’ll get published: Not a clue but it’s going to be fun trying