This year was my fourth visit to the Milford Workshop, held in northern Wales, in a village with no pub--not that that matters, because there are always at least a few of us with cars who can make a daily trip to the co-op.
The week is spent critiquing your 14 workshop-mates' stories and novel excerpts. It's also spent sleeping, eating (good food! all cooked on site, most of the ingredients sourced from the site's own fields), walking in the mud, and, unfortunately for me, reading. I had hoped to have the week to write, but I was so far behind with prep that I had to spend each almost each evening and morning before critique circle reading and writing feedback. By the end of the week, i only got to spend two whole hours writing: one hour was spent on a new story due in November (I honestly might have to bail on that invitation, alas); the other hour was spent on a new story due in February, which I will NOT mess up.
My track record at Milford is pretty good: for each of my previous three visits I've sent two pieces for feedback and published one of each pair. This time I sent only one piece: the first 15,000 words of the newest novel. The feedback I got was fab, but a full first draft is, right now, a bit of a pipe dream. I am hoping to have one done by next summer. FINGERS CROSSED.
The week is spent critiquing your 14 workshop-mates' stories and novel excerpts. It's also spent sleeping, eating (good food! all cooked on site, most of the ingredients sourced from the site's own fields), walking in the mud, and, unfortunately for me, reading. I had hoped to have the week to write, but I was so far behind with prep that I had to spend each almost each evening and morning before critique circle reading and writing feedback. By the end of the week, i only got to spend two whole hours writing: one hour was spent on a new story due in November (I honestly might have to bail on that invitation, alas); the other hour was spent on a new story due in February, which I will NOT mess up.
My track record at Milford is pretty good: for each of my previous three visits I've sent two pieces for feedback and published one of each pair. This time I sent only one piece: the first 15,000 words of the newest novel. The feedback I got was fab, but a full first draft is, right now, a bit of a pipe dream. I am hoping to have one done by next summer. FINGERS CROSSED.
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