Absorbing Writing

Captivating Words: Results from My Ideal Writing Weekend Competition

Posted on 24. Oct, 2008 by Joanna in Snippets

I’m delighted to be able to announce the results of the Ideal Writing Weekend competition.

This writing project was run earlier in the summer, with some wonderful entries submitted. You’ll find the full list of entries at the end of this post, with some excerpts to tempt you and go and read the original articles.

I’m very sorry that it’s taken us so long to do the round up and announce the results.

Co-ordinating activities over a summer of house moving and house building in different countries didn’t prove to be the best timing from a practical point of view – though it did prove invaluable from a planning perspective.

We’ve listened to and learned from the ideas in these submissions to develop a brand new service for next year: writing retreats in Sardinia.

We’re very excited about the potential of these writing retreats to help you unleash your creativity and free up your words.

Anyway, back to the competition results.

Ideal Writing Weekend

I’m delighted to announce that the winner was Isabella Mori from Change Therapy with a piece written as part of a blogathaon: my ideal writing weekend. Here’s an extract:

oh, and the stars last night! haven’t seen that many for ages. so beautiful against the black moonless night, right over calm little waves licking against the cliff along which we were driving (was that really an old butler in an even older but still oh-so-buttery bentley?)

before i pad to the bathroom, i grab my notebook and write down a few words. that’s what the pamphlet said. write something down as soon as you wake up. ok, here we go:

thick walls, old sandstone
hold me up while i fly off.
my pens are my wings.

aaah. haiku is good, any time of the day.

twenty minutes later, i stand by a copse of olive trees, looking down into the water.

This is what our competition judge Lea Woodward said about her contribution:

Isabella’s entry was compelling and captivating from start to finish. Isabella walks us through her ideal weekend from waking up, to making the first entry in her diary, to making friends with other writers throughout the experience. Her vivid imagination describes the sights, sounds, smells and feeling of the weekend. If you look closely, you can extract all the elements that come together to create an ideal writing weekend, not just for Isabella, but for many people – and I know that’s something Emma and Joanna will be able to take away and put to good use for Absorbing Writing.

The second place winner was Shari Smothers at Blog About Writing with this piece on my ideal writing weekend.

Lea said:

I liked the structured and practical nature of this post – from the tools and resources Shari uses to the criteria she uses to select her ideal location.

In third place was Jasmin Tragas at Wonderwebby with a futuristic piece: 48 Hours, 5000 Words and 12 Cubes of Ice.

The comment from Lea:

A fun, slightly wacky entry – which nonetheless contains some useful gems which we can all relate to when thinking about how best to coax those precious words out from our heads and onto the paper.

Prizes in the form of Amazon gift vouchers ($100, $50 and $10 to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place respectively) go to the winners.

Thanks go to our competition judge, Lea Woodward, for her help in assessing the entries, to everyone who joined the competition and shared so many wonderful ideas, and to all of you, for your patience!

Full list of entries

Shari Smothers at Blog About Writing: My Ideal Writing Weekend

People: I like people-watching, imagining their stories. There are times when I just want to be around people, to watch them and hear the hum of life in my solitary work

Dawn Goldberg at Write Well Me: My Ideal Writing Weekend

In the mountains, I feel at one with nature, and maybe even myself, as silly as that might sound. Of course, there’s the whole idea that one is away from distractions: work, kids, laundry, e-mail, maybe even phones in general. All that exists is the writing. And I’m wrapped in the mountains’ arms as I write.

Brad Shorr at Word Sell: What’s Your Ideal Writing Weekend?

It starts with stimulating conversation. I’m not much good at drawing inspiration from nature, and can’t create ideas in a vacuum. But a lively exchange of ideas can open up all sorts of writing possibilities. Chemistry, that hard to define quality that makes certain conversations click, is all important.

Isabella Mori at Change Therapy:
My Ideal Writing Weekend,
My Ideal Writing Weekend Part 2,
My Ideal Writing Weekend Part 3

this is what i write into my diary. it’s a beautiful diary, and i’m delighted, because that’s important. writing, to me, is a sensual experience. i love the feeling of paper, and what happens when pen (pencil, brush, marker, quill) touches down and starts moving.

Lillie Amann at A Writer’s Words, An Editor’s Eye with My Ideal Writing Weekend

I wasn’t tempted to spend all day in the casino – a few hours in the evenings were plenty. What made the experience ideal were the days totally focused on writing interspersed with good times with good friends. By the time we returned to San Antonio, Dream or Destiny was ready to submit to a publisher.

Joanna Young (a non-competitive entry!): 5 Essential Ingredients of My Ideal Writing Weekend

Space: That includes creating the space to get away for the ideal weekend, and to switch off from normal concerns, but I’d also want enough time and space to walk off and do my own thing, read, write, not write, soak up experiences that I could write about later

Jasmin Tragas at Wonderwebby: 48 hours, 5000 words and 12 cubes of ice

I’m using a combination of voice recognition, typing and a slightly manic hand waving gesture with my LifeWriter. The words find some form and characters begin to bloom, but the words come to a screeching halt as it hits 3pm and I hit a wall.

Alina Popescu at Words of a Broken Mirror: My Ideal Writing Weekend

It was March and it was still snowing in the mountains. We were staying at this cozy little hotel and being alone in my room felt amazing. I needed some time to finish my novel and quite a lot of inspiration to do so.

Keith Andrews at Comic Book Day: Comic Book Retreat

It will give me the time to decompress, so I can give the best to those that have sacrificed a year away from me. Comic Books are an outlet for me. Writing is an outlet for me. What a wonderful respite I will have when I step away from everything, and read and write for just a single weekend. Who knows, it may become a habit.

Tags: Ideal writing weekend

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