SWG Writing Retreat 2013 Recap, or Writing Retreat 2: The Quickening

This past weekend was the Stop-Watch Gang's second annual writing retreat, again hosted at the SWG secret southwestern Ontario lair (aka, Suzanne's house in Kitchener). And we are especially grateful to Suzanne and her boyfriend Michael for their hospitality considering that when we arrived there had been no power for 18 hours! They did herculean duty moving frozen and perishable food all over town to friends and relatives with power so that nothing spoiled and the SWG could eat well as we wrote.

Three cheers for Suzanne!

As with last year, Costi Gurgu was the undisputed winner of the 16 hour write-a-thon, with a grand total of 11,068 words of new fiction (and we hate him all the more because he's writing in his second language!)

Full tallies of people's new word counts are:

• Costi: 11,068 words
• Tony: 9548 words
• Ian: 8095 words
• Mike: 7257 words
• Suzanne: 6048 words (and mind you she lost most of Saturday afternoon once the power came back on trying to gather all that farmed-out food!)
• Stefan (oh yeah, somehow during the ride over the fellas decided that my 'real' name was Stefan and thus was I known for the whole weekend...): 3104 words
• Richard: 1950 words

And now, a graphic!

Also, fun fact discovered this weekend: did you know that the 80s SF classic The Last Starfighter was actually an American remake of a German movie whose title translates as The Last Spaceman? In that movie, aliens contact the winner of a pinball game to see when he wants to start intergalactic war. True story.

Or we made it up.

One of the two.

- Stephen

Writing Retreat Weekend 2013 Edition

This coming weekend, the Stop-Watch Gang will be partaking in their annual writing retreat. From roughly noon Saturday to noon on Sunday, various members will write like fiends.

As is tradition, we provide a few challenge prompts to inspire SWG members and those of you playing along with the home game.

For 2013, inspiration is drawn from the letter "S".

Using the five senses...
Taste – saffron, scallops, spinach
Touch – suede, syrup, steel
Smell – stew, sewage, scotch
Sight – snow, sign, syringe
Sound – sand, saxophone, siren

Using Words...

A quote by Socrates: "The nearest way to glory is to strive to be what you wish to be thought to be."

A quote by Robert Louis Stevenson: "Everybody, soon or late, sits down to a banquet of consequences."

A quote by William Shakespeare: "Go to your bosom; Knock there, and ask your heart what it doth know"

Using visual prompts, follow the links below...

"Vice Admiral Sir George Anson's Victory off Cape Finisterre" by Samuel Scott

"The Girl" by Emily Shanks

"Pine Pavillion Near a Spring" by Shitao

Using auditory prompts, follow the links below...

The song "Shake Me Down" by Cage the Elephant

The song "Spaceship" by Puddle of Mudd

The song "Scumbag Blues" by Them Crooked Vultures

The song "Something to Remind You" by Staind

The song "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) (Alt. Version)" by Marilyn Manson

The song "Sofi Needs a Ladder" by Deadmou5

Feel free to post your word counts in the comments section below.