At the weekend, I went to the inaugural retreat put on by the excellent team at Cymera Festival.
TL;DR is “It was excellent, you should go to the next one!”
What we got up to
Cadging a lift with the excellent Jay and a brand new friend, Kate, we wound our way out into the Scottish countryside to a rural farm that puts up accommodation to help them keep afloat. We got there after dark, and found the main lodge. That’s where I was staying. There were smaller lodges dotted about, as well. My room was immaculate and comfortable and I got to marvel at the experience of having underfloor heating!
The first night was mainly about getting to know each other. The wine was flowing and it was very cheery and nice to meet our fellow travellers.
The next morning revealed the stunning view.
We were taken on a tour by the owner of the animals on the farm and hand fed sheep, goats, horses, ponies, alpaca, donkeys, and pigs!
The Shetland ponies in particular seemed very aware they were (tiny) stars…
Just look at that face! LOOK AT IT!
After that, down to writing.
A lot of opt-in activities!
That afternoon, a workshop with the amazing Claire North who helped us think about world building and offered an AMA with great industry insights into things like agents and publishers.
More words after that. Food was catered for those who wanted it and we ate at a big communal table and chatted again. I can’t tell you the luxury of not having to think about what you want for dinner, go to the shops, cook it…
The lodge was comfy and warm, so even when the weather turned up the Scottishness dial, we were cosy!
There were plenty of opportunities for walks around the farm’s many pathways to blow off the cobwebs and get the words flowing. (Some keen folk even went running.) Stunning landscape and good company.
Our next faculty member was the lovely Hannah Kaner, who offered us exercises like writing a quick setup and passing it along to the next person to add a change, and then onto another person to finish the scene. Her AMA was similarly filled with insights from her experience in the industry.
There were hot tubs! And no, you’re not getting any photos from there. What happens in hot tub stays in hot tub. I only used them once but the chance to chat and share our own experiences in lovely warm water under a clear starry sky was special! There was even a sauna hut. Bloody hot! I am not used to such temperatures any more and had to flee several times. But, thanks to the Scottish weather, I just had to stand outside for a few seconds in the drizzle and was good to go again!
We had one-to-one sessions on pitching books to agents. Mine’s not quite ready but I was happy to have a look at it for the future and it turned out to be a very useful exercise for reframing my ideas on where things were going. Erin (one half of the MK Hardy duo) was an absolute star at sharing her experiences of pitching.
Words happened!
Importantly, none of these side quests took away from the fact that I got some serious word count down and even solved a massive character / plot issue I had in my work in progress.
Couldn’t have done it without the entire weekend’s activities and ambience of heated creativity massaging my brain. For that I have to thank the aforementioned faculty with their workshops, the other attendees for their excellent chat, Mo and Erin of MK Hardy fame for being excellent support crew and a lot of help, but most of all Ann Landmann, the founder of Cymera Festival for making it all happen, being an excellent chef and all round legend!
I am sure it will be happening again next year, so sign up to the Cymera mailing list to be the first to know.
