Retreating

A couple of months ago my friend Susan (who I seem to get a lot of my good ideas from) said that she was going on a cruise to Ensenada to get some work done: a DIY writer's retreat.

What?

She was going to get on a cruise ship for four days and lock herself in her state room and write and write and write.  It sounded weird, but kind of like a good idea.  She was leaving out of Long Beach and she had a pilot to work on.

Well, let me know how it goes when you're back.

She came back from the cruise and said she got a lot of work done.  She had gone down to Ensenada, with a stop in Catalina.  No phones.  No distractions.  Food included.  Drinks if you wanted them, but that wasn't free.  $260 all inclusive.

Well, when I get some money, I might do that.

I have some money.  I'm going to do it.  I haven't booked it yet because, as Susan told me, the longer you wait, the better the deals get.  And I actually have time to wait.  I'm also getting my car fixed today, so I wanted to wait to see how much that was going to cost before I did anything.  Although, I'll probably do it anyway because it's such a deal.  I leave out of Long Beach at 5 PM on Monday and I get back at 8 AM on Friday.  We stop in Catalina and are there for the day on Tuesday, then Ensenada on Wednesday and then en route back on Thursday.

I have a deadline of May 15th to turn in my pilot for the Sundance Episodic Story Lab, which I know will be incredibly competitive and to which I want to send my pilot in for.  I also have a new play reading on May 18th and I have a deadline of May 31st to get my House of Cards done for the writing fellowships I'm applying to this year.  So May is going to be a heavy month of writing for me.  That's good because I have been just working most of April.  I'm ready to get back into the writing of it all.

This week is about preparation.  I need to have a plan/outlines for the pilot, the play and the spec.  The spec needs to be outlined.  I know what needs to happen with the pilot.  And also with the play because I got notes on the draft I wrote two months ago.  I wrote for about six weeks straight in February and March, so taking another six weeks to work and get other business in order is just maintaining the balance of my life.  I would like to be writing non-stop 24/7, but that's just not physically possible.

But what I have done to get myself prepared for this cruise and my writing month is to keep my office hours for writing.  I have been working a freelance gig for the past three weeks or so.  So I have been trying to go to the Korean Spa, which is where I like to do my writing when I have the admission fee and when I have to go somewhere that acts like an office.  Yes, this is an office where I am naked.  But if I stay at home, then I get distracted by all of the Netflix I should be watching.  It haunts me.

And I would go to the Weho library, which I love.  But by the time I get down there, I have to deal with traffic on the way home.  And I can only be there for three hours at a time without paying for parking.  At least at the Korean Spa I go to, I can stay as long as I want to.  Yesterday, I was there from  3:30 PM to 1:30 AM.  Today, I am getting my car worked on.  So I decided I would walk down to another Korean Spa I like where I know I can get work done.  My car will be getting worked on for at least four hours.  It was the perfect excuse to come here and lock myself in and prep for this four day writing intensive retreat.

Here's what I need to prep:

• Pilot: I need to do a full rewrite, so I need to make sure all of my information on the reinvention of my main character is intact.  I think I have the story of the pilot.  I like the way the pilot opens and the story and characters seem exciting.  I want to actually try and get a full rewrite done before I leave, so I can concentrate on another rewrite when I'm gone.
• Play: I have to strip away what I have.  I have 118 pages and about 30-plus pages of it are monologues.  I'm trimming that back.  I have a list of things I want to have happen in the first act.  I want to get a plan down for the second act so I can just write while I'm at sea.  I would like to get at least the first act done while I'm gone.  Then I can write the second act when I come back.
• Spec: I have a spec House of Cards I need to write!  I have the idea.  So I want to get an outline down and I need to rewatch parts of Season Two.  I would like to write as much of it as I can while I'm on the cruise.  Then I need to put it down and pick it up again on May 19th and write my ass off for 12 days.  It's due on May 31st.

Then when I get back on the 9th, I need to focus almost exclusively on the pilot and the play.  Sundance deadline is May 15th, so then I have to do rehearsals for the play and put up the reading on May 18th.  I'm crazy for thinking I can get all of this done.  But I want to push myself.  And after the 18th, I can turn my attention all the way to this House of Cards spec.  Then I'm off to Santa Clara on May 29th and need to be mostly done by then.  

May is going to be cray cray.  But I love it.  I love that kind of busy.  I might try to pick up some work starting on the 19th so I can have some more money coming in.  I might be going to SF to produce a movie with my best friend in June, which might be a nice change of pace.  Although there won't be any money coming in, but hopefully I won't have to pay for much while I'm gone.  And it will help me rejuvenate.  Then Portland in July.  I'm most likely just going for a week.  The Summer is an expensive time to be there.  Between the flight and the car rental, it's tough. I'm thinking that the next writers retreat I do out of town should be there.  Or Sonoma.  That would be good too.

I have a plan!  Thank goodness!

And I have to set aside some money for a "journey" I'm planing on doing some time in the next few months.  But more on that later.  That's a different kind of trip.  But also artistically inspiring.  At least it was the last time I did it.

I am grateful for time.

I am grateful for money.

I am grateful that I can put the two of those together and really utilize opportunities.

I am grateful for the energy that money creates in order to focus on an action and an intention for what I want out of this period in my life.

I am grateful for peaceful space that I am creating in my life.

I am grateful that I don't just stop and wait for the peaceful space to present itself.

I am grateful for words.

I am grateful for my ability to ride the wave.