Writing away

Trout Lake is spring-fed, dotted with tree-covered islands of granite, and thick with one of my favorite songbirds, the veery. It's also the summer home of a friend who opened her cabin for a four-day writers' retreat last week. No phones ringing, no dogs barking, no parakeets chirping. No work, no errands, no responsibilities. It was paradise.

My only task for those four days was to write, but when I needed to recharge or think through a challenging scene in my novel-in-progress, I hiked through the dense Adirondack woods or paddled around the islands in a borrowed kayak. Kathryn led the retreat, but she also did the cooking and cleanup, as well as putting in time on her own novel. The meals were delicious and healthy – but with a candy dish of Hershey chocolate always on hand for my sweet fix. My bed was on the sleeping porch, a wonderful, second-story room overlooking the endlessly moving water of the lake. The sunrise was my alarm clock.

I made some good friends last week – all splendid writers pursuing their own creative goals. We laughed and cried at each other's work during our evening sharing time. And I made some real progress on my manuscript.