The Stanley Hotel - My First Writer's Retreat

This post originally appeared at the Erotic Readers and Writers Association web site.

I'm breathing the crisp, thin air of Estes Park, Colorado right now. I'm attending the Stanley Hotel Writer's Retreat, my very first writer's retreat. This one is for horror, but since it's my first retreat I thought I'd report on it. I bought the short story package, and my two stories will be critiqued after the retreat.

The Stanley Hotel is the hotel Stephen King stayed in that inspired him to write The Shining. He stayed in room 217, which is supposedly haunted. We're in room 319, which is not haunted. I tried to book room 401, which is also haunted, but someone beat me to it. The Concert Hall and the fourth floor are haunted as well. I went to the fourth floor and took pictures, but no ghosts. Yet. Here is a shot of the haunted fourth floor hallway. I fully expected to see two very creepy little girls hanging out at the end of the hall. Redrum!

We drove from the northeast coast of Massachusetts (any more east and you're in the ocean) to Estes Park, Colorado. It took us four days to get to Denver, where we stayed overnight and took advantage of pot tourism in the state. We bought edibles since we don't want to smoke - Cookies and Cream Cake Bites and sublingual Energizing Tablets, both infused with marijuana. Recreational marijuana is no longer seeds and twigs in a plastic sandwich baggie. I had no idea it was so fancy! The tablets were okay but those cake bites are amazing. Pure chocolate decadence and a very mellow high. I discovered something very important – I cannot write when baked. LOL I drool when baked, and that's about it. We're enjoying the mellow in our hotel room when things are slow, which isn't often. We also have Jacuzzi jets in the bathtub, and I'm taking full advantage tonight after all the events for the day die down.

We saw elk taking their good old time crossing the road on the way to the hotel. I understand the elk own the roads out here, so who am I to complain? LOL

The Opening Scaremonies (after all, this is a horror writer's retreat) consisted of our Guests Of Honor horror writers and editors you've likely never heard of since you read and write erotic fiction and romance. In case you have heard of them, they are Trent Zelazny, Jack Ketchum, Josh Malerman, Chris Morey, and Daniel Knauf. One of next year's Guests of Honor is Chuck Palahniuk. He wrote Fight Club. If we can swing it, we're going. Our host is Dark Regions Press editor RJ Cavender, and he did a bang-up job putting this behemoth together. This year's guests gave a very informative talk about the craft of writing, editing, playwriting, Hollywood, and their works in general. In two hours I'm going to a talk by a lake about dialogue and scene construction. It'll be given by Daniel Knauf. I do excel at writing dialogue, but I'm always on the lookout to learn something new. UPDATE: I attended the highly informative lecture by Daniel Knauf, who is one of the writers of the hit TV series The Blacklist. I learned why I've been having difficulty working on two short horror stories lately. I don't know my characters. I've done historical research, developed the location, and envisioned most of the plot. I've neglected my characters. I won't be able to work on the story until I know them better. Next step - write character profiles for each character.

I highly recommend you attend as many planned events as possible even if they cut into your writing time. You will learn a great deal, and you'll be in a position to mingle with other writers. You might even meet someone you've admired for years. One of the purposes of a writer's retreat is to inspire you to write. This one is doing its job. Not only have I made some fine contacts, Jack Ketchum is interested in being my guest on my radio show The Women Show in early 2016. He's one of the top horror writers out there. The Girl Next Door was sufficiently upsetting. Based on a true crime, too.

I've been asked by darker fiction publisher Rampant Loon Press to write a new short story based on a small Massachusetts island town I've created for one novel and several short stories. Rampant Loon published one of those stories – The Oily – and it has accepted a second one – Unrequited. Both are horror. I've decided to go one better. I'm going to write two new stories. One set in a wooded location in modern times, and another one set in the same location in approximately 1830, not long after the Salem witch trials. Salem plays an important part in my story since it's not very far away from my island.  I've already done all my research including hiking in the five acre area of woods near my home which provided much inspiration as well as a nasty twist to my right leg that is still healing. This wooded area is an abandoned colonial settlement, and you can still see the ruins. My two horror stories will be very desolate and creepy. I even read some Stephen King for inspiration, speaking of the Stanley Hotel. I'm using my time here at the retreat to inspire me to finish at least the modern day story. I need to concentrate on character development before I can begin to write the story, though. I learned that today during a lecture outdoors at a restaurant on a lake where we saw a bald eagle flying around. The eagle even dived into the lake to catch a fish. Knauf talked about getting to know your characters very intimately with important things like what are their dreams? What are they afraid of? Once I write down those notes I can begin writing the stories. There's no deadline so I'm not in a rush.

There's nothing like writing undisturbed by children, pets, television, Facebook, Twitter, strange foreign men on Facebook asking me if I'm married, email, the phone ringing, people banging at my door, the upstairs neighbors screeching at each other, and the latest appliance to stop working in my apartment. I'm free to be creative here, and I write when I want. I've also decided, with the help of discussing the matter with one of the guests, that I need to begin my agent search again. My family saga/thriller novel Secrets and Lies won't be published in 2016 after all since the publisher is going out of business. I was told about a week ago, and I have my rights back. Lucky for me, the book was never published so I don't have to worry about trying to sell a reprint. It was recommended to me to begin the agent hunt in earnest and don't aim for the smaller presses since they can be so unreliable.
Aim high. Good advice.

It's a long way from home, but the beautiful Stanley Hotel was well worth the drive. The views of the Rockies are gorgeous. Although I'm a beach girl at heart, I could see living here because of the views. I'd have to get used to the altitude – just walking up and down the stairs gets me winded – but otherwise this is a beautiful location to write. If you have a chance to go to a writer's retreat, I highly recommend one.

The Space To Write - Having A Room Of One's Own

Elizabeth Black writes in a wide variety of genres including erotica, erotic romance, and dark fiction. She lives on the Massachusetts coast with her husband, son, and three cats. Visit her web site, her Facebook page, and her Amazon Author Page.

-----

Virginia Woolf famously wrote in her essay "A Room Of One's Own" that "a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction". While that premise has been criticized most notably by Alice Walker for not recognizing class and women of color, it does provide much insight into the conditions that may be necessary for a woman to have the peace of mind to write in her own space.

When I was 24, I looked for my first apartment and I found one in Laurel, Maryland, equidistant between Baltimore and Washington, D. C. The layout of the apartment as well as the grounds in which it was situated were important to me. I ended up getting a third floor apartment with one bedroom and a den, which was not common in this complex. My balcony faced a lovely courtyard full of trees. I was also directly across from the swimming pool. After I moved in, I used to sit on the balcony after getting home from work at dusk to watch the bats fly around the courtyard. It was a great way to enjoy a glass of wine after a long day and relax in my surroundings.

That den was of vital importance to me because it became my writing room. It also faced the courtyard so I could see the trees from my window. Most mornings and at least for an hour every evening, I sat down at my Brother typewriter and retreated into my own world. I was in a writer's group so I always had something to prepare. I was the sole horror writer in a sea of romance writers, which is ironic considering today I write romances and erotic fiction as well as horror and dark fiction. I never published anything mainly since I had no idea where to send my stories. I merely enjoyed the art of writing and sharing with the group.

I took the lessons I learned from having my own room and money and applied them since. Today, I don't have a writing room but I do have space of my own and the means to write unencumbered because my husband is the primary breadwinner in our household. I'm aware many women do not have that luxury. I'm grateful that I do. Woolf might have underestimated the amount of money a woman needed to have the freedom to write, but I recognize that she's talking about having the freedom to write without having to endlessly worry about day to day troubles such as putting food on the table or paying the electric bill. It's hard to write when your children are going hungry. I’m also aware many women write under such conditions and do a wonderful job at it. I don't earn enough to support myself on my writing. I don't know many writers who do. They need to either have financial support from elsewhere like parents or a spouse or they hold day jobs.

My point is that women somehow need some sort of space where they can go to get in "the zone" to write. We're in the process of moving, and the apartments we're looking at will continue to give me the freedom to write. We live in Rockport, Massachusetts, which is on the Massachusetts coast. I'm a five minute drive to the beach. It's fairly expensive to live here, and I've been looking for a reasonably-priced place that isn't a summer rental that also accepts cats. We did find a gem that would be perfect for us, but it's in a city nearly a half hour away from here. The price and space were very hard to turn down, but we realized we'd give up far too much to move out of the small town we've lived in for 17 years. I'd have to give up my daily walks on the beach with my first mug of coffee for the day. I'd give up drives along the coast. My favorite beach chocolate and ice cream shop. Our favorite family-run eateries. The Fourth of July bonfire on the beach. The lighting of the Christmas tree downtown complete with free cups of hot cocoa. Santa Claus arriving in Rockport harbor on a lobster boat to greet the town for the holiday season. I might have had a room of my own in the house out of town, but I'd have been miserable. I can't write when I'm miserable.

I don't like where we now live. The entire apartment complex is run down and the apartment itself is in dire need of repair. This new place gives us hope. An example of it is pictured above. The grounds are lovely. I need a beautiful view. I would have difficulty feeling inspired with a view of a parking lot to the local supermarket. I can have an outdoor garden to grow my herbs, peppers, and flowers. We might even be able to have a smoker outside. During the warmer months, the patio or deck (depending on whether we get a ground or second floor apartment) will become another room where we will enjoy meals and drinks on lazy days. I can even get a laptop and write outside if I wish.

Having the peace of mind to write is as important as the stories I write. Although I hate where we live now, I am fortunate enough to be in a position to write without disturbance. While I don't have a room of my own, I do have headphones I put on to listen to music while writing. I go inside my head to find the inspiration I need. Once we move to a much nicer place, I will have more freedom and more ease to write. I need that since I've had a bad case of writer's block since January, when my mother and one of my cats died one day apart from each other. I can occasionally write, but not as frequently as I had before January. In fact, I just finished and handed in an erotic romance fantasy story for an anthology. So the drive is still there. It's just hard to come by.

Virginia Woolf was on the right track when she said women need money and a room of their own to write. I've found that room doesn't have to be a physically space for her alone. It can be a state of mind. Many women write while living in dire circumstances such as poverty or a bad marriage, but it is much more difficult for them than it is for a woman with enough money to live comfortably and with support from friends and family. I'm fortunate to have both, and I know that.