Hello and welcome to a writing retreat Saturday here at the Wannaskan Almanac. Today is August 27th.
Today I’m in Fosston hosting the last day of the Red ShoesWriting Retreat and it’s been a blast. Thirty writers from all over the state
of Minnesota (and a few from North Dakota!) gathered at the Fosston Library and
Arts Center. Now, speaking broadly here, writers tend to be a solitary crowd,
which makes sense because writing can be a very solitary endeavor. But this
crowd of Red Shoes Retreaters came in with big smiles and conversation skills that
wowed even this extrovert. I even led an icebreaker activity to create
opportunities for people to connect and create a sense of community among the
group. They were already chatting before I gave them their first warm-up
question, “What are your favorite shoes?”
It’s been an awesome whirlwind of activity – yoga for
writers, workshops, discussion panels, consultations, book sales, and
entertainment – and really nice people who are genuinely excited about writing.
One of our guest authors, Erin Soderberg Downing and I are
high school peeps and Erin is an amazing kid lit writer. Over wine and minty pastel
meltaways Friday night, Erin humored me and was gracious enough to do a little Q&A fun.
Q: What is your most popular book?
A: Probably Puppy
Pirates which is about puppies who are pirates. It’s a chapter book series inspired by my dog’s Halloween costume.
Q: What is your favorite book that you’ve published so far?
A: I would say The
Great Peach Experiment series because the research for it took me on an RV
road trip around the Midwest with my kids. Also, the three main characters are
based on my three kids so I see a lot of my own favorite people in the series.
Of course, the mom in the series is dead so I wrote myself out of my family.
Q: How do you get your ideas?
A: One of the retreat participants said they get a *whoosh*
that comes to them as a gift. My ideas come to me in a long slow turtle poop.
Q: Hey, by the way, were you a cheerleader in high school?
A: Oh my god, no.
Kim: I wasn’t either, but I remember having a moment of clarity and self-awareness and telling
Josie O’Gara (who was a cheerleader) in
the 12th grade that I should have been a cheerleader. Now here I am, almost
thirty years later, finally doing a cheerleader-y job as a book coach.
Another presenter, the lovely Monique Duray, who played
Baroness Shroeder in Warroad Summer Theatre’s summer production of The Sound of Music, provided the
wellness component to the retreat with yoga and a workshop called "Building
Resiliency: Protecting the Mental Health of Writers." She was sharing a glass of
cabernet sauvignon with Erin and me, so of course, I roped her into this
interview saga.
Q: How do you feel about asparagus [Note: this is after several (tiny) glasses
of wine, Meanwhile, author Marcie Rendon
was busy sleeping responsibly.]
A: I love it. I just found out that I have wild grapes
growing in my yard [Note: Monique lives closer to me now, having made a move from Greenbush. A conversation ensued between Erin and Monique about grape tunnels while I was writing this.)
Clearly, we’re being silly now, so I’ll wrap this up with some
exciting upcoming new releases from our guest authors!
Erin is really excited about her next book coming out. Controlled Burn is set in a fictional version of Tower, MN, and stars a version of her own Grandpa Howard. It comes out on November 1st and she’s been waiting almost 20 years to see this one come to life. It’s about the power of nature as a healer and the bonds of family. Go to erinsoderberg.com to get more info and to pre-order.
Marcie is still responsibly sleeping, so I'll let y'all know that the third book in her Cash Murder Mystery Series # 3: Sinister Graves comes out in October! Go to marcierendon.com to get more info and to pre-order.
And now we're just far too silly to be serious anymore, so that’s all we got!
Happy writing and reading, folks!
On This Day
Historic Highlights (credits)
Happy Birthday to You!🎶
Remembering You
Kim
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