The revision retreat in Ashton, ID at the Stonefly Lodge was probably the best event I've ever experienced. Right up there with one of my first concerts, Monsters of Rock - where I met band member from the Scorpions, Van Halen and Great White, the two sultry weeks I spent in the Marshall Islands, and - the day my husband asked me to marry him. Yes, Darcy, you rate pretty high in my lifetime events.

Let me tell you why...

In Darcy's book Novel Metamorphosis



she states "We give lip service to the idea of revising. We want to have revised well. But we don't want to revise. It is essential that you revise."
Darcy Pattison's retreat will make you WANT to revise. Darcy's Pattison's retreat will allow you to take a fresh way look at your manuscript. And after months of writing, revising and rereading - don't we all want to be able to view our own manuscripts with a fresh look, as if viewing it from someone else's eyes.
I can tell you that I have always dreaded revising. Not anymore. Now, I so look forward to it. The tools I learned at the conference really simplified it for me:
shrunken manuscript allows you to find weak spots in your book at a glance,
identify the 5 strongest and weakest chapters, learn how changing a single word can add impact to your story, ideas for a sagging plot line, the amazing connotation of words, and one of my favorites: narrative patterning.
And Darcy cares about every person she teaches. Really. It makes the difference between an okay retreat and a fabulous retreat that you would recommend to every writer you know.

So, about the actual event. The food was great. Breakfasts were oatmeal with peach bread pudding, the most wonderful Quiche Lorraine and fresh strawberries. Lots of coffee and tea. Curry chicken salad and fresh, rich vegetable soup with buttered rolls for lunch and dinner was pot pie topped with homemade biscuits, rosemary chicken breasts, glazed carrots and mushroom risotto. We were broken up into groups of four and it amazed me how excited my group was over my manuscript and how excited I was to talk about theirs, too.
One thing Darcy had us do was gossip about each other's characters. Talk about bringing them to life!
The lodge was beautiful. I don't have a front view picture. You can go to darcypattison.com for that. (and pictures of all the attendees) But I did get a nice picture from the back balcony:



And it snowed on May Day, the second day of the retreat.




If you write, then you need to attend one of Darcy's retreats. You will come away a better writer, and probably a better person. Really.