Retreat: Day Two - PM

It's still day two for another hour! 

Today has been a little crazy for me. 

I chucked the book I thought I was working on. Submitted the book I had sent before I learned my publisher was closing, which meant I had to write a synopsis and query letter. 

Then I was lost. I took a nap and wandered around trying to decide what i wanted to do. I read through old story starts and old manuscripts trying to get a spark, but it wasn't coming. 

I finally stumbled on two sentences I'd written on an idea. And by the time we finished dinner, I had a full blown direction. And I've been writing it. 

One more full day and I'm hoping to fly. 

But first I should sleep. 

Behave!

Retreat: Day Two - AM

Good Morning!

Wow what a difference in temperature! I think I might have to put my sweatshirt on and I love it!

Slept in this morning. Needed that. Well, I guess I slept the normal amount? It took me a while to fall asleep. But I was comfy and the room was cool, so there's that. 

Now I'm getting ready to get to work. Feeling kind of brain boggled and am not sure I'm heading down the path I want to go with the book, but I'll figure it out. 

That's all for now!

Behave!

Retreat: End of Day One!

Day One is in the bag... Kind of...

Two of us are still up. Just talking and being a little silly. 

I have five thousand words under my belt so far and I'm getting a handle on how this story needs to go. Currently I'm "pre-writing", which is what I do until I figure out my characters and what they're all about. Overall, I'm pleased and we brainstormed possible directions for this story, so all good. 

It stormed awesomely here earlier. And it cooled things down. It was amazing to watch the thunder clouds roll across the valley.

We had our traditional nachos for dinner and a lot of awesome conversation. 

And now I'm heading to bed. I've already advised everyone that I'm sleeping in tomorrow and I'm looking forward to that! 

More tomorrow!

Behave!

Retreat: Day One

Yay! I'm here!

I worked this morning for a few hours and then hit the very busy and dangerous road. I almost died. Twice. Once this big truck with a pod thingy on the back signaled and started for the exit. Last minute, he decided that was the wrong exit and whipped his truck back into the lane. Ugh. 

I stopped at the grocery store. I had added things from my retreat friends to my list. The store was closed. Then I miscalculated and ended up going the wrong way on a very busy and very touristy road. I mean, not against traffic or anything, but the wrong direction.

But I made it. 

We were at this house last year, so it's nice to know where everything is and have the same bedroom. Though they did rearrange it, and I think I like it better. 

I was going to stop for lunch, but was so frustrated by the traffic and my plan being thwarted that I didn't. But when I got here, everyone else was eating lunch so I had my cheese and crackers with them. 

And that is all for now. 

Time to get to work!

Behave!

Almost Time...

It's still hot and that sucks! Everyone is grumpy. Our bathroom is like the ninth level of Hell, complete with its own lava flow. The air conditioners aren't keeping up. Turning on a stove burner or the air fryer increases the inside temp far more than it should. 

Anyways...

This time tomorrow I will be in a very air conditioned house for the first day of retreat! 

I still have to pack. And go to the store. Well, go to the store again because I forgot stuff last night. And do laundry. 

I know what I'm working on and I'm ready to go!

Behave!

Wait For It!

You know what I'm going to say, right?

It's hot!

Yeah, disgusting. The AC's barely keep up. The dog is disturbed. The squirrels have been hiding out until almost dark. It's supposed to be like this for most of the week I think. 

On Thursday I leave for retreat. I'll work a few hours in the morning and then take off when our IT guy gets there to install my new computer. I'm still in the process of figuring out what kind of food I want to eat and how I want to pack stuff. 

I'm also super excited to start my next book. The Old Lady story is going to get one more read through and then sent to my critique partners (after retreat). I do have a little bit of this new book down, but I'm feeling like I'm going to start it in a different place so I'm probably just going to freefall with it.

I'm looking forward to a productive time! It's been a year since I've been on retreat and we're at the same house we were last time I could go. So I know what to expect and where everything is. 

That's all. I hope you have air conditioning! 

Behave! 

Feel Good Friday!

Let's get to the list:

1. The sun is out! Woohoo! (Though we won't talk about how hot it's supposed to be next week)

2. Finishing the Old Lady story! Woohoo! 

3. Deciding what I'm working on at retreat. And now I have this weekend and a few more days to rest my brain before I hit it hard and fast. 

4. An easy day yesterday. We had no obnoxious parkers. No one asked to use our bathroom or sit on our front porch. We worked at the dining room in the morning and then spent the afternoon together talking and stuff. 

5. Less than a week until retreat!

6. Friday! Some sleeping in is going to happen tomorrow for sure. 

7. Weekend plans. I'm not really sure what's going to happen yet. There are a few options and it's going to be hot so we'll see. 

That's about it.

Behave! 

It's Raining Again...

Is it ever going to end? 

I mean, the nice thing is that I haven't had to water. And the grass seed we just planted has been amply watered. But... 

That Man just cut the grass on Saturday and it's ready to be cut again. There are things we'd planned to get done this week and... And the constant rain has kept my groundhog remedy from working so he's eaten my cone flowers almost to the ground. 😠

This week is our town's huge street fair. Ugh. We decided to take the day off so we wouldn't have to fight to get home. (One year the rent-a-cop patrolling the end of our street didn't believe us when we said we lived here. He said "doesn't everyone?" We ended up driving around him to pull into our drive. What an *ss.) Another year, someone blocked our driveway and didn't leave until the next morning. Jerks. (I have so many stories) 🙄

Well, we're working from home for a half day. Both of us have to answer phones anyways. The whole company is shutting down early for the annual kickball game. Which we'll miss, but there's not much we can do about it. If we tried to go, we'd get home even later and that would be disastrous. If they reschedule kickball because of weather, That Man will make it next week, but I will be on retreat. I do feel sad to miss it. It's a lot of fun, but I'm also not giving up precious retreat hours.

I'm very very close to being done with the Old Lady story. 😁I'm ready to start the final read through before sending it off for critique. I'm excited to be done. I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to start on retreat, but I have a pretty good idea. We'll see.  

(and yes, I just discovered I can put emojis in here.) 

That's all. I'll try to check in with anything interesting that happens on street fair day... It's supposed to be hot and thunderstormy. 

Behave! 

Happy Father's Day!

I miss my dad. I know my siblings miss our dad too.

It's been 11 years since he had to go. It's been 15 years since That Man lost his dad. It sucks and there's nothing else to say about that. 

I do have a lot of awesome dad's in my life. That Man is at the top of the list. My son, my brother, my uncle, my brothers-in-law, and good friends. I texted them all this morning. Well, texted most and talked to my son since we have his youngest all weekend and Small Boy wanted to talk to Daddy.

Not sure when they will get here. B won both games yesterday but they lost this morning, so I don't know what's going on yet. 

We're having a chill day so far. There's a list of things that need to be done and we're thinking about it. Ha!

That is all. I might update later...

We'll see...

Behave!