I held my own writer’s retreat this past weekend. My husband took the kids to his mother’s house in Braidwood, which is a small country town just outside of Canberra. I was planning to go but I had an appointment. They had a great four days playing with her three dogs, swimming in the river, riding the old horse Banjo and exploring her vast rose and native tree gardens. Meanwhile, I wrote and wrote and wrote. I’ve finished my second novel, but it needs revision. I had a writers group meeting a few weeks ago and the feedback I received was that I need to work harder on my supporting characters in the new novel. I didn’t get as much done as I hoped I would – I always hope to work faster – but I still made decent progress.
It wasn’t all hard work this weekend. I went out every night, saw two movies, went to the book launch of Three Crooked Kings – a book about Brisbane’s sordid underbelly – and had dinner with some old and new friends at Dell’Ugo, one of Brisbane’s finest Italian restaurants. That dinner party happened by accident. On Saturday evening, I went to the movies with my friend Lara. We saw Side Effects, an excellent thriller. Following the movie we planned to have a quick bite to eat. I wanted an early night so I could get up early and continue writing while my family was away. This is of utmost importance to me – I always go to bed at 9pm and get up at 5am, or earlier, and write. I do not like my routine meddled with.
Lara had a friend in town from Melbourne, so we drove into West End to pick him up. He wasn’t alone, he had his boyfriend, and two other new friends, and they all wanted to come for dinner. It was Saturday night and busy along Grey St, South Bank. We took the first free table, in a nice-looking restaurant, that we could find. This is how we ended up at Dell’Ugo, a restaurant known for beautiful service and delicately prepared food. Lara told me to order some wine. First glance at the wine list was a small shock. Not knowing much about wine, except that I prefer a plain white wine, I usually order the second cheapest choice from the wine list. After perusing this wine list, I started searching specifically for the absolute cheapest vino among the very expensive selections.
I was starting to get nervous. Nice wine plus nice restaurant and dinner companions ordering rapid amounts of Scotch with Ginger Ale poured from tiny bottles, and espresso martinis, and red wine, usually means a lengthy evening. Thinking about the writing work I wanted to complete in the morning, I wondered if we would only order mains. My heart sank when the jovial gentlemen we were with all decided to order the Degustation. I knew I was doomed. I would be stuck in this elegant restaurant until midnight. I would end up drinking too much, and going to bed really late, and sleeping in and sabotaging my writing opportunity. A situation like this, where I find myself out of control of my time management, is my personal nightmare. I felt anxious, worried, unrelaxed. I drank my wine. Of course I could have left the restaurant, but that would have been rude. Poor old me, there was nothing for me to do but drink more wine and settle in.
As it turned out, the evening turned out to be a really fun night. The guys were lively and interesting, and it was great to talk to some new people, especially people who I would not normally have the opportunity to meet. Yes, the Degustation did take a long time. I just ordered gnocchi as I can never eat huge amounts of food at once. I also had a delicious dessert of caramel popcorn, chocolate tart, hazelnut gelato and muddled strawberries. Under normal circumstances, there is no way I would plan a big night out like that when I had the window of opportunity to write. It reminded me that sometimes it is good to chill out and let life happen the way it wants to. And when this happens in one of the best Italian restaurants around, you can’t complain!
And, as it turned out, I slept well, woke up with a clear head, and still was able to write for the morning!
