If you don’t like your own company, I do not recommend an eleven-week residency. There is a lot of alone time. On the other hand, if you have been procrastinating, eleven weeks of enforced isolation will solve that problem.
After a while, it is very hard to distract yourself from yourself.
Guilt is another great motivator.
For the first few weeks, I kept getting texts about my dog, Bruno, who wasn't doing well at home (see below), and I felt like I had abandoned him for no good reason. I had finished some revisions, but I hadn’t written anything new. Why was I even at this dumb residency?
About six weeks in, when I was really beginning to feel like a fraud, I signed up for a motivational meet-up hosted by Erin Steel, a writer I had never met. The meet-up group was committing to the 90-Day Novel Challenge, reading a book by the same name.
I only made it to the first Zoom meeting because the meetings were scheduled for noon EST, which was dinner time here in France. Even though I ended up going it alone, against all odds, I stuck with the challenge. I set a goal to write 1250 words every day for the rest of my time at Moulin à Nef and (drum roll…) I did it! I now have 22,000 words!
Isolation and a small dollop of self-disgust work wonders. If I keep going at this pace, I will have 30,000 + by the time I return home. Most of it, I know, is currently rubbish, but it is a solid foundation, and it would not have happened without this residency. I have written a lot of poetry and many short stories over the years (four books in total), but I have never published a novel. Now I feel like I might just do it. Yay!
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Before I get back to work, I would love to share a fantastic story by Moulin à Nef Fellow Pritha Bhattacharyya, “The Trouble with Brown People.” You can sign up and read it for free on The Kenyon Review website here. Or, if you have trouble, just message me. I have a PDF. It’s well worth your time.
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I was very happy to learn that my poetry collection, What Trammels the Heart, was chosen as a 2026 Eric Hoffer Category Finalist this week. It was a tough book to write, and I hope it reaches other survivors and allies.
Have a great week!
Kelly
PS: Message me or email kfordon450@gmail.com with some of your favorite poems. I hope to get back to My Personal Favorite later this summer.
