Writing Away

A long held dream about to become reality! I'm off shortly to a small writing seminar near Toulouse France for four days, followed by a week in Spain to work on my project. Goal is to have a fairly polished submission for the Banff wired writing program due June 15.
I've been working on this novel for several years in what I can only describe as sporadic interludes and now is the time to hunker down and pull the disparate pieces together.
I've printed out a copy of the mss, have my IPad and my notes and hopefully will have peaceful sunny days on the terrace to sit staring at the pyrennees and then the Mediterranean, while the writing elves guide my pen.

What about you? What is your deepest writing desire? Where do you see yourself doing your work? Is there a writing course or teacher or book you feel would inspire you or give you additional skills as a writer? Can you see yourself writing in Rome, or reading The Artist's Way or taking an afternoon to walk and think your way through a plot point?

Heed your writing soul when it calls to you. As a writer, the deepest, most satisfying relationship you will ever have, is with your writing self. Follow that call, no matter how odd or difficult or impossible it may seem.

If it seems impossible that you will ever write in Rome, start by writing on the terrace of an Italian restaurant. If even that is impossible, make yourself a pasta dinner with a bottle of chianti, light a candle and listen to Pavrotti. There! You have your notebook and you are in Italy, in a dimly lit trattoria, working on your story. I guarantee you serendipity will engineer your life so that someday in the not too distant future you WILL be writing in a little Italian trattoria and recalling this little exercise in imagination.

Next challenge: draw, paint or Photoshop the cover of your novel. Make it real. See your name above or below the title. What IS the title? (of course it will be changed as the definition of a working title is a title that ISN'T working.

Take a look at amazon's list of titles in your genre. What jumps out at you.
Happy writing!