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A Wonderful Stay at The Writer's Colony

I spent five days at a truly magical place. Every morning I'd wake up, try to make actual coffee come out of the coffeemaker (I've got a French press at home and anything from a coffee maker tastes watery and thin), give up, and just get to working.


The sun would move up in the East, above the line of trees, and light up the blinds with a brilliant glow as I continued to work, stopping only for bathroom breaks of a random snack. I would move seamlessly through journaling in a comfortable leather chair, to dabbling with tarot or oracle cards and more journaling at the round table in the bedroom, to typing my heart out at my computer in the writing room. Occasionally, I would venture out for some ice from the large commercial kitchen that was behind the office below me.


There was something about the calm, the quiet, the background hum of life moving about but not needing my input, my help or attention, that just allowed the words and thoughts to pour out of me.


Around 4 p.m., the most delicious of smells would begin to drift through the vents and my stomach would remind me of how little I had eaten. And then it would suddenly be 6 p.m. and time for dinner.


By the second day there, I had already identified the week next year that I hope to return. It's likely the only traveling I will do next year since we will have our hands full with our short-term rental biz during World Cup. The lead up to it will be frantic, to be sure!


I don't typically plan too much for my stay at The Writer's Colony or writer-centric events in general. I simply overpack with a variety of creative options - bringing tarot and oracle cards, a couple of nonfiction books, several journals, art supplies along with a couple of special art journals that coincide with writing experiments (The Book of Shadows and The Book of Z) and just leave myself open to see what comes a'knocking in terms of creativity.


Every single day I was there, I was working 12-15 hour days. Happily. Intensely. It felt AMAZING. No interruptions. I actually set my phone to silent for my entire trip and only infrequently checked it.


So what did I get done there at The Writer's Colony?


  • I fleshed out the start of a new book, one that won't be written for a while.

  • Worked my way through the Quit Your Job, Change Your Life manuscript and fleshed out the missing/short chapters. I still need to do at least one major revision, possibly two.

  • Worked my way through The Glass Forest manuscript and tackled the two incomplete chapters. I need to let it sit, then go back through and see what it needs next. There will be at least two more major revisions on this book as well.

  • And the big one, I created an oracle deck for creatives. The working title is The Compass of Creation.


Seriously, creating an oracle deck was not on my bingo card. Not at all. But there I was in Eureka Springs, and it was all I could think about. The vision of it, the creative journey, so clear in my mind. So I dove in, working with Midjourney I created, edited, and changed prompts until the first card emerged... Spark ... a bright idea that flares in a creative's mind and burns there, demanding one's attention and engagement.

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And this led to me imagining how creativity falls into four categories, which I then separated into suits of cards:


  1. Planning (Inspiration and Preparation)

  2. Creation (Writing and Expression)

  3. Obstacles (Resistance and Resilience)

  4. Completion (Revision and Release)


The act of creation is never without its challenges. One begins with a flash of insight, followed by details and creation, only to be interrupted by problems and delays that we must push through before finishing our creation and releasing it to the world.


Many folks are familiar with tarot cards, and oracle cards are similar. But where tarot requires a rather rigid framework - Major Arcana and Minor Arcana - oracle cards have a lot of leeway. I've collected a few, but my current "go to" favorites are my Between Worlds deck, as well as The Sacred Creators Oracle, and The Enchanted Map Oracle. I will often pick a card in the morning, to get my day started or to see if the Universe (or my own unconscious mind) have anything to say to me.


But I felt like I wanted to explore journey that creation takes. To tie that with creative prompts that can help bring a dreamer into doing what they love and might be wondering if they even can do. I was thinking of how, in the midst of dreaming, and exploring, I could help someone else write the Great American Novel or paint that first painting or whatever their creative heart desires.


And I spent over three days working on it - from designing the cards to writing the creative prompts and even exploring the shadow side of creation. I was able to create a guidebook that would go inside the box with the 54-card deck, and I'm digging deep to also create a book. The book is chock full of writing exercises and truly is meant for writers. Inside of it, the cards are simply a theme to explore and then move on with. I figure some will like the book, others will like the oracle deck, and many might want both!


I'm back to focusing on audiobook narration now. I have one more story to record in G581: Plague Tales and then it's on to G581: Zarmina's World and then G581: Plague Tales II. I've decided to put all of my time and attention into that, and not to the ongoing Kickstarter, which is currently at 28% of goal. Within hours of launch it had funded, but then, crickets, and later two major backers decided not to go forward with their pledges.


The way I look at it, this was a bare bones campaign that I'm better off completing the products for than chasing down potential backers. I have plenty of pre-orders waiting for the books to release on January 1st. And when I get done formatting the large print and audio, AND the translations into Spanish, French, German and Italian - I'll go ahead and release the books early if everything is done.


My goals next year are to expand my newsletter subscriber list and get more followers so that book launches (or Kickstarters) have a higher chance at success. One step at a time, right?


Here are some of the other oracle card images...

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And remember...


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Want to stay in my short-term rental? Visit The Cottages for more details!

 
 
 

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