Milford Retreat 2022
7th - 14th May
at Trigonos, Nantlle, North Wales

Juliet E McKenna, Liz Williams, Mike Lewis, Kari Sperring (back), Jacey Bedford, Heather Lindsley, Tiffani Angus, Mark Bilsborough, David Allan, Russell Smith.

Report by Jacey Bedford

I spent a full week of being closeted with my laptop in a quiet room (with a picturesque view) and the company of nine other writers at meal times and in the library after dinner (for those of us who were not immediately dashing off to add more wordcount).

My task was to edit my work in progress, a YA romance with elements of urban fantasy and faerie. By Wednesday morning. I’d done the first pass, deleting some stuff I didn’t need. Then I started on the second pass, adding in some deeper thoughts about characters, and occasional new scenes.

This week was not about adding word-count for me, rather it was about getting under the skin of my characters. A few years ago (pre-lockdown) Catie Murphy managed to write 33,000 words in a week. That set the standard. We decided to measure output in ‘murphys.’ This year Mike Lewis reached 30,000 words by Wednesday morning, and by Friday he topped out at 57,000 words, almost a double-murphy.

There were ten of us at the retreat, We all had our own en-suite rooms either in the main house or in one of the cottages in the grounds. I was in Room 4 this time which is a generously proportioned, twin-bedded room. I could (just) see the a tiny bit of lake through the branches of the burgeoning trees, but I had a view up the Nantlle Valley to Mount Snowdon. At least, I could see the mountain when it wasn't obscured by mist.

There are few places more conducive to writing than Trigonos. There’s our usual Milford critique-week here in September, and our Milford writers’ retreat in mid-May.. If you are thinking of joining us, you’ll have space and time to write in the congenial company of fellow writers. Don’t leave it too late to book.