When I scheduled my residency I didn’t know I would be spending the night before the night prior at the zoo with twenty Girl Scouts. Not ideal timing. Still, walking around the zoo at night was an exciting experience—especially visiting with the friendly walrus. Sleeping in the aquarium—or attempting to do so—was less fun especially as some of the girls had no interest in sleeping, but we all survived.
I got home in enough time to unpack the van and repack for my second residency with Hypatia in the Woods. Normally packing for two weeks is a hassle, but as I’m not planning on leaving the cabin to interact with people very often it mostly entailed filling a bag with comfy clothes and a good pillow. I took more research notes than anything as I have three different projects on the docket.
The drive down to Shelton was uneventful, and after a swing by to Trader Joe’s in Olympia to stock up on tasty meals I headed back to the cabin in the woods.
I feel like anytime I’m preparing to do a lot of uninterrupted work I like to reorganize my space. I pushed the table up against the window and brought the office chair down from upstairs to make a cozy workspace, then I sorted my notes by project and set the future projects away so they aren’t visually cluttering my area.
In my new mug I made a cup of tea and then settled in to finish a couple of small tasks and craft a to-do list for the rest of the day. Admittedly, not the most inspiring or exciting beginning to my time away. I haven’t had a magical burst of creative energy or a sudden idea that is going to change my current project—to be fair I was diagnosed with some pretty low iron on Friday which explains away my exhaustion of the past few months so it may be a few days of tablets before I start feeling bursts of any energy—but I am doing the important emotional prep work.
The rest of my evening is going to be spent rereading my entire current project and perhaps doing some light editing, then getting a nice night sleep in before an intensive writing day tomorrow. I hope to have daily Residency follow along with some writing prompts for you to do as you like.
Today the prompt is more of an action: Tidy up a space where you might like to do something creative over the next two weeks. Get supplies together, and put away (not just set aside) any distractions that will pull your focus. Walk away, then come back and see how the space makes you feel. Do you need to quiet it more? Add a touch of inspiration? Repeat as needed until it feels right.
Happy Residency Day One folks!
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