Writing retreats and this will be our year

Last night my friend Joey and I had a writing retreat in my living room. It was great! We set the table with water, chocolate and laptops and fired away.

Joey and I are both working on manuscripts for books and have the philosophy that though tapping away on a chapter is a perfectly legitimate way to spend a Friday evening, tapping away next to another human is even better. We like to call this side-by-side working parallel play.

I think I've written about my obsession with parallel play in the past. Joey, mother to one-year-old Avonlea, coined the phrase last year. Technically, parallel play is a phase in child development when kids are able to play next to one another without actually interacting. For little ones it's a season they'll move on from, but for busy writers it's a luxurious regression.

We're not legalistic parallel players by any means -- we do interact at scheduled intervals. In fact, we use a tomato timer to let us know when we can stop, share and put the kettle on.

While last night was amazing (we got so much done, even with a dinner break courtesy of the taco truck), we're going to level it up soon by taking the retreat on the road. That's right, we're going to do a full weekend of writing in a barn loft on Orcas Island! A wood-fire stove, garden and sea access -- it's the stuff of writers' dreams.

Now, if I could offer one tip for successful parallel play it would be this: make sure you're both on the same figurative page. It's always awkward meeting someone for what you think will be a parallel playtime and noticing they've brought nothing to work on. "Oh, so you wanted to to talk while we drink this coffee?"

I think that since Dan is working tonight I'm going to hunker down for another evening of writing. The gift of time is something I rarely take for granted, so this weekend I'm making full use.

Are you getting time to work on the things you want to? The year is still young, and I love the sign I saw in the shop front of Assemble Gallery and Studio the other day on Phinney: "This will be our year."

I hope this is our year!