I Went to a Writing Retreat Without My Laptop and Survived

by Pamela S. Meyers

A log cabin writers retreat…the words jumped out of my computer screen as if to say, “Do it!”  The picture of the cabin drew me in. Spending a late autumn weekend in a cabin in my beloved native Wisconsin woods sounded like a great way to plot a storyline for the sequel to my new book.

The cabin was located about a three-hour drive from my suburban Chicago home. Just far enough to feel like I really was away from it all. I claimed one of the three bedrooms offered and made plans to attend.

I was told that Internet connection would be spotty but I could drive to a nearby town to check for emails. Important since I was in constant communication with my editor for an upcoming book. The plans for the weekend were made. I’d attend my Bible study the morning of my departure, then after lunch make the drive to the cabin. Little did I know that the Chicago Cubs would clench the World Series title the night before and I'd be awake until after two a.m. thanks to my over-exuberant neighbors’ celebrations. Regardless, I had to be up at the crack of dawn for responsibilities at the Bible study. No sleeping in for me.

That afternoon, with my eyelids at half mast, I hopped on The I-90 Tollway and began my trek north. By the time I crossed the state line into Wisconsin a little more than an hour later, my adrenalin took over. The sight of the rolling Wisconsin hills, some still wearing autumn’s glorious colors of reds and yellows, helped to regain clarity of mind. I couldn’t wait to sit with my laptop and be inspired as I tapped away on the keyboard and the plot began to emerge.

Then the thought hit me.

I’d left my laptop at home. I don’t know how I knew without looking, but I did. Praying I was wrong, I pulled off at the next exit and found a place to park. My computer bag was not in the car. Which also meant my phone charger wasn’t in the car either. 

I’d gone too far to turn around, so my only option was to keep going. I did pack a notebook and a pen for my devotions. And I could use them to scribble out ideas. Isn’t that how authors of old wrote? As for the phone charger, I’d have to find a Walmart or similar store. I turned it all over to God. If anything I could enjoy walks in the woods while the others wrote on their laptops.

Within minutes I spotted the familiar blue and white Walmart sign and pulled off at the next exit.

By now the sun was quickly setting and I’d have to hurry if I didn’t want to be searching for a cabin in the Wisconsin woods in the dark. I raced into the store and scurried the electronics department. By then sleep deprivation had returned, and I could barely get the words out to a rather disinterested clerk that I needed a phone charger. Stumbling over my words, I explained I was sleep deprived from being up too late watching the World Series. 

She gave me a blank stare and said she never watched sports. I picked out what I needed and as we walked to the cash register I said, “Here I am going to a writers retreat and I left my computer at home. What writer does that?” I received another blank stare. Something we always joke about at writing conferences popped into my mind. Remember, we aren’t the only ones in the hotel. The other guests are “normals.” At least I didn’t tell her I was coming to Wisconsin to plot how to kill someone off.

I made it to the cabin at dusk and stepped into a beautiful, cozy room, complete with a large stone fireplace—perfect. Later, when I stepped into my bedroom I was pleased to find a welcome bag containing a notebook and pen. I wouldn’t need to use my prayer journal.

The next day, after some instruction on characterization, I sat down with the notebook and pen and before long, I had a couple great plot points for my hero. The endorphins kicked in and I wrote at characterizing my character for at least an hour. By the end of the second day, I had a great start on putting a plot together and had driven into town and took pictures of a unique old building I might use in a story. Amazingly, I hadn’t missed my computer at all.

God taught me a lesson I should have known. Even when it seems I am ill equipped, I really am not because the One who called me to this gig called writing is always with me and He will provide using whatever is available. In my case it was a pen and notebook and nothing more.

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A native of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, author Pamela S. Meyers lives in suburban Chicago with her two rescue cats. Her novels include Thyme for Love and her 1933 historical romance, Love Finds You in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin Her novella. What Lies Ahead, is part of a novella collection, The Bucket List Dare, which is now available at Amazon in both print and Kindle formats. Second Chance Love from Bling!, an imprint of Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas, will release in January 2017. When she isn’t at her laptop writing her latest novel, she can often be found nosing around Wisconsin and other Midwestern spots for new story ideas.

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Tools

by Alton Gansky

Perhaps it began with a stick used to draw an image in the dirt. Some would date it back to cave drawings—early finger painting. Then came wood styluses used to press cuneiform in to wet clay. We can’t overlook mallet and chisel used to create hieroglyphics on the walls of ancient tombs and the occasional obelisk or stone column. Papyrus and paper led to pointed sticks dipped in ink and bird-feather quills. (Did you know we get our word “bible,” as in The Holy Bible, from Byblos, the name of a city on the Mediterranean where early paper was made from reeds?) Then in the middle of the sixteenth century the wood cased, graphite pencil was designed. Turns out, it was a durable invention. We still use them today. It is said that John Steinbeck would use as many as 60 pencils a day in his writing. East of Eden required the sacrifice of 300 pencils.

Of course we can’t forget fountain pens and their successor the ball point pen. Then there is the glorious typewriter which invaded the business and writing world in the late 1800s. (I collect typewriters. My oldest is from 1919 and was invented by a Canadian Methodist minister…but I digress.) The typewriter made literary creation faster and easier. Some would argue that faster is not better. Pulitzer Prize winner David McCullough, most recently of The Wright Brothers fame, uses an old typewriter he bought secondhand in the 1960s because if slows him down. I use a computer because it speeds me up. (And again I digress.)

Then came computers and word processors. I wrote my master’s thesis on a designated word processor which was fantastic—back then. Now a decent smart phone can do more. There was desktop publishing that allowed anyone to make flyers, print ads, and even magazines. Books became e-books. Letters became e-mail. Phone calls became texting (don’t get me started).

All of this to say, writers have always made use of tools to do their work. There’s a lot of time and technology between using a stick to draw a picture in the dirt and self-publishing. For the most part, it has been revolutionary and I’m glad for it. That being said, I sometimes fear that writers can become so focused on the tools the use to write that they overlook the greatest tool they have: an imagination fueled brain.

Someone once asked me what kind of computer they needed to write a novel. I said all they needed to get started was paper and a box of pencils. James A. Michener did his work by hand and hired a typist. Erle Stanley Gardner of Perry Mason fame dictated his work to secretaries.

It is easy to get caught up in the tools at the expense of the idea and that is a tragedy. Yes, if we write on a computer, then we need to master the software we use, but the focus should be on the story, not the tool. Sure we love our tools. Such is true in many professions. I used to do a good deal of woodworking and no one loves their tools more than woodworkers. A woodworker might loan you a tool or two but reach for his chisels and you might pull back a bloody stump. Chefs are that way about their knives. Put a piece of paper in front of a writer, a real writer, then he or she will start creating. Pencils, pen, crayon, typewriter, computer keyboard, it doesn’t matter, but the story.

When a writer is in “the zone and the words flow like water” she will not let her attention drift to how nice a keyboard she’s using. The focus starts with story, stays with story, and ends with story. The tool that makes that happen is found in the tool chest between our ears.

Writers long to be influenced. Not controlled. What we like is to bathe frequently in the natural springs of imagination. Swim in the story of others, drink from the well of movies, plumb the depths of an ocean of ideas. In doing so, you find your own story rising to the surface of your mind. It will tell you what to do from there.

Be careful, however, about what you allow to influence you. We tend to be picky about what we eat. We need to be just as picky about what we let influence our craft. Listen to the best, read the best, study the best, then be the best.

Alton Gansky is a writer with so many ideas he trips over them in the night.

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E-Readers, Tablets and Bears, Oh My

Dan Balow started in Christian publishing in 1983 working for the David C. and held a position as Director of Marketing for books with Tyndale House Publishers. Dan is a founding member of the advisory board of the Christy Awards and is involved in training and mentoring Christian publishers around the world.  He is now an agent with the Steve Laube Agency. Dan works from his office in Wheaton, IL and is married to Carol. They have four grown children.

The latest data from the Pew Research Center’s Internet Project released this Fall and confirmed in solid data what we all know to be true…that e-Book readers and tablets are becoming more prevalent in American society.

In a scientific survey conducted five times since May, 2010, the Pew Research Center concluded as of September 2013 that 24% of Americans age 16 and older have a dedicated e-Book reader (Kindle, Nook, Kobo, etc.) and 35% have a tablet computer (like an iPad, etc.).  Furthermore, 43% of those 16+ have one or the other, so a number of people have both.

Compared to the last survey taken in November 2012, this one reveals a 26% increase in ownership of e-Book readers and a 40% increase in ownership of tablets in the last ten months.

So who owns these things anyway?

Slightly more female than male.  E-Book readers are owned slightly more by people in the 30-49 age group, but the data shows pretty broad use by all ages.  The tablets are strongest with the 16-49 age range, with fully 46% of 16-17 year olds owning one, but 18% of persons age 65+ own a tablet.

Predicting the future is always difficult, but as young people today age, they will continue to use technology more than their predecessors.  The most interesting aspect of these surveys is how quickly people age 50+ have adopted these new technologies.  People in that group picked up the technology “habit” later in life than those who grew up with it and it has significant use among older Americans.

Of course, children at the youngest ages are being exposed to technology every day in schools with the assumption that it will even more prevalent and important than it is now.

What will happen to printed books?

In general, digital books are less expensive than printed versions. As digital sales grow and physical sales shrink, the cost of printing the physical editions will increase.  Two factors contribute to this…lower press runs and increases in paper costs will drive printing costs higher which will need to be compensated for by increasing the retail price of the physical books.

Those higher prices will have a further dampening effect on purchasing, making eBooks and their lower prices even more attractive.  So, there is potential for a digital “tipping point” sometime in the next few years, caused not as much by the love of digital content, but by the expanding price difference between print and eBooks.

An even more interesting trend will accelerate the decline of print books…excessively low prices of eBooks. Readers will consider a book “worth” $0.99 and so the printed edition heretofore priced reasonably at $12.99 will be viewed as overpriced.

Authors should be concerned about a trend that lowers the expectations of consumers to a vanishing point.  Selling your eBooks at $2.99 or less might give you the short- term satisfaction of higher unit sales, but as far as I can tell, your bills still need to paid in dollars, not units!  Training consumers that books cost $0.99 will irreparably damage the entire publishing industry.  In other words, what you write is not worth much.  Marketing guru Seth Godin refers to this as a “race to the bottom”…a race that no one wins.

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