I'm officially back from the 2007 of the Rainforest Writers Village retreat at Lake Quinalt, WA. I drove up Thursday afternoon, back this afternoon, mostly back roads in western Washington State. [ Google Maps ] It rained almost the entire time I was there (in a rain forest, imagine...) -- something like 9 inches over the course of the weekend. tbclone47 and honnababy were the hosts, while the writers in residence were myself, Barb and J.C. Hendee and Susan R. Matthews. A bunch of folks were there, including LJ'ers lmarley, davidlevine and kateyule, lisamantchev, newroticgirl, robvagle and a whole bunch of others whose LJ handles have either slipped my mind or weren't known to me. About 30 people total, I believe.

We spent Thursday evening through Sunday afternoon living in rustic cabinettes, eating lots of food (including momos prepared by me Friday night with an able assist from lisamantchev and a cast of dozen), having occasional formal sessions, multiple writing times and some good old fashioned partying. Blackstrap molasses rum will not be mentioned further. I saw a bald eagle and an otter, neither of which I was able to photograph, got a bunch of work done on Madness of Flowers, and generally had an excellent time. Also, pretty much everyone else involved managed to do a Jay Lake fan-fic, exquisite corpse style. I believe lmarley has threatened to post it on her LJ.

I'm sure I've left a lot out, but it was big fun and very productive. I highly recommend this conference if you're looking at things to do next year.

Assorted photos...


The Rainforest Village itself, including the rather amusing little sign in my bathroom which appears to be a form of poetry addressing the operation of the jacuzzi


Me walking on Lake Quinalt, then menacing lmarley through the window of the lounge


The krewe assembling for the farewell photo


From the drive home, a derelict bookmobile, and self-portrait at 70 mph

[ Flickr set ]