Writing Retreat 2014

Hello everyone!

Last week I got home from what was probably the most fun ten days I've had bunched together in a very long time. Partly, the fun was due to the breathtaking house I was staying in, but most of it can be attributed to the company.

I was a little apprehensive about meeting my CP's in person. Admittedly.

"What if they look nothing like they do on video chat?"
(Don't ask me how this makes sense at all.)

"What if they think I'm a total weirdo?"
(They totally did, but in a lovable way.)

"WHAT IF THEY'RE ALL AXE MURDERERS? OR THE SAME PERSON WITH FOUR DIFFERENT PROFILE PICTURES?"
(Panic, thou art a crazy bastard.)

In the end, they weren't axe murderers (obviously, since I'm sitting here typing at home... with all my limbs.) And I got more done in that one week in the middle of Texas than I would have in a month at home. I started the vacation with a vague idea of what I might do for my next book and once I told my CP's they were so excited about it that it made ME more excited about it. I used up an entire stack of post-its, took over the back door, and in about 6 hours I had my whole book plotted out.

IT WAS AWESOME!

Sure the vacation as a whole had it's ups and downs. Like the GPS sending us to the wrong address, 45 minutes north, and getting lost on the creepiest road EVER.

Talk about axe murderers

(We screamed for 20 minutes about how this was the road to hell, and the handful of other cars we came across were just other versions of us, warning us to turn around before we were trapped forever.)

But, really, who drives to the backwoods of Texas at midnight? (Us. We did. Bad idea. DON'T BE LIKE US!)

Once the sun came up, though, none of that mattered. Because those creepy looking things leaning over the railing at the vacation house turned into flowers! And the creaky sounds became air conditioning sounds. And the absolute darkness surrounded the house turned into this:

And this:

I highly suggest a meet up of CP's if you're at all inclined to penguin slide on slick hardwood floors, take an air mattress onto the lake and get covered in mud, eat the best lasagna you've ever had, or swim at the coolest place ever.

It's a natural spring, that's set up like a pool!

Because while I didn't write half a book, like some people there, (and you know who you are) or stay on task, or be any kind of productive for any reasonable amount of time, I had SO MUCH FUN. I'm basically a five year old in a 25 year old body, and in Austin, I could be that person a little more energetically than I can at home. It's all about the experiences, people. And I had one hell of an experience at the writing retreat of 2014.

Toodles!

Megan.