Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Day 8 to Day 15 at Le Chateau

I've been remiss...starting off blogging about the chateau with a bang and then just dying off. But it's because things are going so well there. I am almost done with the new novel. Actually I wrote what I thought would be the final chapter today but then discovered that I would need to write another chapter to explain and expand on some other stuff. So, it's kind of finished...but not quite.

My goal is to write this final chapter tomorrow (I started it today), and then to spend the remaining time editing and re-writing and filling in gaps, etc. I want this second draft to be completed, hopefully by the time I leave, which is on the
23rd.

On the 15th we had the public reading and everybody was wonderful. The audience was amazing and so nice. All of them (at least 30 people I think) talked to all the writers and complimented us and engaged each of us in conversation. There were people from Geneva and Lausanne but also from Annecy, which is about 70km away. Quite a drive just to listen to us.

Our fivesome is becoming crazier and more insane as time goes by, which just adds to the fun. At lunch and dinner we have the best time. It's a madhouse and the right blend between serious writing and total fun.

As I enter the last week of our stay I find myself jealously guarding each day. As I look towards the mountains past the bowl of the lake, I smell the flowers and breathe in the air. Our enchanted time is coming to an end and then it's time for real life. With bills and cooking and shopping and phone calls and doorbells, and walking the dog (much as I miss my mutt).

And in less than a week the Chateau de Lavigny will become nothing more than a memory, a space in time that will remain with me forever.

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