clhollandwriter: (marchin)
clhollandwriter ([personal profile] clhollandwriter) wrote2016-08-19 05:25 pm

Swanwick Writers' Summer School 2016: Day Seven

Day Seven is not really a day, as all we do before we leave is have breakfast and say goodbye. Then it's on the coach for those of us heading to the station. Once we're unloaded there's already a sense of separation, of normal life creeping back in, as everyone scatters to their individual platforms. I miss the days when those of us who had a longer wait for the train would gather in a coffee shop, chat (those of us not horribly hungover from the previous night's disco, anyway), and extend the week those few minutes more.

I had mixed feelings about leaving this year, part sadness it was over for another year and part relief that I got to go home. The last twelve months have been frantic - I've changed job, moved manager three times and team twice, had health problems that are likely to have a long-term impact, plus bought and moved into a house. During all of this I've barely had the time, let alone the energy, to write. While I spent most of the year longing for Swanwick week, when I got there I found I didn't have the ability to deal with homework, large groups of enthusiastic writer folks, or watching everyone eat cheesecake or fish and chips that I couldn't have. As a result I was tired, cranky, and snappish, and I apologise to anyone who found themselves on the receiving end.

The trip home was longer than usual due to the route but after a nap, ten hours sleep, and another nap the following afternoon, I felt a lot more refreshed. And it turns out my week wasn't wasted after all. Despite not writing, and not feeling like writing, I've still got the post-Swanwick motivational kick. I've got ideas for two projects and the desire to do my homework. This weekend, I'll dig out the notes from the Manifesting Your Goals course I took in 2014 and create a timeline. It appears some of that Swanwick magic rubbed off after all.

Moods

[identity profile] andrew shephard (from livejournal.com) 2016-08-20 09:36 am (UTC)(link)
Sometimes one is just not mentally prepared for a school or a retreat or a holiday. I wasn't this time, so your blog post chimes with me. And like you, when I arrived home, very happy to be back, I had to search for what I had got out of the week. And when I looked hard, I realised I had gained something very useful after all. Good luck with reclaiming your writing time and habit.
p.s. If you were feeling cranky, it didn't show to me.