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| {The private dock by our rental house. So peaceful!} |
This past weekend, I headed out to eastern Maryland for a semi-annual writer's retreat! There's a group of us who try to get together twice a year; and I approached this one with a little twinge of bittersweetness since I might not be able to go to the next retreat, due to the little watermelon growing inside of me. (Of course, I can't wait to meet my little watermelon! I get a bit teary-eyed whenever I think about holding her. Ah, pregnancy emotions!)
Anyway, it was a fun-filled retreat full of eating carbs (so many cookies!), taking walks, and drafting manuscripts. We also chatted about this crazy thing called publishing, and we compared notes about our different publishers and editors. Honestly? I'm continually surprised by how very individual this journey can be, from advance sizes to revision notes to satisfaction with your publisher. I suppose this is one of the most exciting and scariest aspects of writing—that there is no road map because all of our journeys are unchartered. We're essentially walking this path blind, without knowing if there are bumps ahead or u-turns or a huuuuuge pot of gold with a platter of chocolate croissants to boot.
But we keep walking and we keep writing because we love it, because we can't stop. And what if there is a pot of gold and chocolate croissants not far ahead?!
Clearly, I'm hoping my next advance will include French pastries. :)
Ok, I"m just babbling now. How was your long weekend? What were you up to? And what have you been reading? I've been burying my head in lots of WWII history books because my next project is a YA WWII historical. I've never tackled a true historical before so this should be interesting!
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| {Attending afternoon tea in historic Chestertown, Maryland! From left: Tiffany Schmidt, Miranda Kenneally, Jessica Spotswood, Moi!, Robin Talley, and Lindsay Smith. Not pictured: Cristin Terrill.} |
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| {A lovely sunset on the first day of the retreat.} |
