I’ve been back from Ragdale for a week now and already it feels like something that maybe happened to me once a long time ago. Real life has nothing in common with artist colony life, and I felt completely removed from it once I stepped off that plane last week. Clearly I was there, because there are photos and there are 63 pages of the new novel that someone wrote somewhere. So it must have been me, and they must have been written at this weird place I disappeared to for the past month… But it all feels very strange and disconnected.
I met wonderful, talented, fascinating people while I was there who I see now are phantoms (as I am to them) because they aren’t nearly as solid as the people in my real Brooklyn life. A couple of them (one for sure. Yes, you, Christina) will most likely convert to real-world friends and thus cease to be phantoms but…I don’t really know any of them, and they don’t know me. There’s this illusion that happens when you live closely with people in intense situations. This feeling of a bond, of friendship long before any friendship has actually been earned. It’s just strange. It’s not quite the same as that alternate reality that summer camp could be when we were kids. Maybe because I spent so much time writing, and thinking about writing, and thinking about my characters. I indulged myself in a lot of time spent in my head. Maybe that’s why it doesn’t seem quite real, looking back.
I went to Ragdale with an idea for a new novel and some loose character sketches. I went there with the first novel submitted to my first-choice agent, but no answer yet. I went with some stories circulating on the literary-magazine submission circuit but only a pile of rejection slips to show for it. I walked away from Ragdale with 63 pages of the new novel written and a very clear sense of the story and the characters. With my first-choice agent having said yes and having sent that first novel around to some amazing publishers (fingers crossed! We’re waiting for news!). With a story sold. I had a short story accepted by failbetter while I was there too. (Cool hunh? Don’t knock the online publications, by the way. Stories in failbetter have been included in the Pushcart Prize anthologies, thankyouverymuch.)
Now, I can only credit my time at Ragdale with the work on the second novel. Everything else that happened while I was there I had already set in motion long before I left New York. But still…lots of good news grew out of that time…
Where am I going with this? I don’t know… I guess I’m incredibly grateful that I had that time there. And incredibly grateful to be back home. I haven’t written in the week that I’ve been home. I think I’m ready to get back to it now.
All the things that are paying off now are due to your talent and hardwork. Ragdale will pay off, too, when the second novel is published!
Posted by: Carole
Transitions are always so…..interesting.
Posted by: claudia
Dude! Failbetter is indeed nothing to sneeze at! Congratulations, which issue will you be in?
(keeping fingers crossed about the amazing publishers)
Posted by: marrije
Congratulations, indeed! You should be proud of yourself!
Posted by: –Deb
coming back from another planet. reintegration. a week of debriefing seems to have been in order. 🙂
Posted by: carolyn
Congratulations on the short story. That’s great news.
Posted by: Gina
The good news is really encouraging … I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you too!
Posted by: Agnes
Well, I was glad you went but also incredibly glad to have you back. It seems that there was just an amazing confluence of events that happened in such a short period of time. As someone said, your hard work is paying off.
Posted by: Cassie
Congratulations Cari!!! y muchÃsima suerte. Besos!
Posted by: LÃa
Wow, it sounds like life is super good. I think a week off from writing was what you needed to settle back into real life and celebrate your recent successes.
Posted by: Steph
what a nice post. have i mentioned how happy i am for you? pretty cool when everything comes together 🙂 now hurry up and finish the book so i can read it!
Posted by: Rebecca
Great post about that creative atmosphere… I believe I feel similar emotions during the last few weeks of a production. Cast members become so close — but what is it built upon? Then, the day after the final performance — there’s an emptiness, as if I’ve buried something/someone… Congrats on your hard work – both the work that has been recognized and the work that has YET to be recognized!
Posted by: Meg
Congratulations! I hope Oscar has been suitably impressed with your elevated status ( knowing cats probably not) No really, well done. It is always great to watch someone acheive their dream.
Posted by: janine
Wow, Cari, great news all around! Congrats on the short story, and sending you good luck vibes on the fabulous publishers. I wish they’d hurry up already …I wanna read your book!!! 🙂
Posted by: Carrie
Congrats on the story! And that adorable little kitten…Aw…
Posted by: Phia
All the things that are paying off now are due to your talent and hardwork. Ragdale will pay off, too, when the second novel is published!
Posted by: Carole
Transitions are always so…..interesting.
Posted by: claudia
Dude! Failbetter is indeed nothing to sneeze at! Congratulations, which issue will you be in?
(keeping fingers crossed about the amazing publishers)
Posted by: marrije
Congratulations, indeed! You should be proud of yourself!
Posted by: –Deb
coming back from another planet. reintegration. a week of debriefing seems to have been in order. 🙂
Posted by: carolyn
Congratulations on the short story. That’s great news.
Posted by: Gina
The good news is really encouraging … I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you too!
Posted by: Agnes
Well, I was glad you went but also incredibly glad to have you back. It seems that there was just an amazing confluence of events that happened in such a short period of time. As someone said, your hard work is paying off.
Posted by: Cassie
Congratulations Cari!!! y muchÃsima suerte. Besos!
Posted by: LÃa
Wow, it sounds like life is super good. I think a week off from writing was what you needed to settle back into real life and celebrate your recent successes.
Posted by: Steph
what a nice post. have i mentioned how happy i am for you? pretty cool when everything comes together 🙂 now hurry up and finish the book so i can read it!
Posted by: Rebecca
Great post about that creative atmosphere… I believe I feel similar emotions during the last few weeks of a production. Cast members become so close — but what is it built upon? Then, the day after the final performance — there’s an emptiness, as if I’ve buried something/someone… Congrats on your hard work – both the work that has been recognized and the work that has YET to be recognized!
Posted by: Meg
Congratulations! I hope Oscar has been suitably impressed with your elevated status ( knowing cats probably not) No really, well done. It is always great to watch someone acheive their dream.
Posted by: janine
Wow, Cari, great news all around! Congrats on the short story, and sending you good luck vibes on the fabulous publishers. I wish they’d hurry up already …I wanna read your book!!! 🙂
Posted by: Carrie
Congrats on the story! And that adorable little kitten…Aw…
Posted by: Phia