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Authors on the Road Day 5.5
Well, we’re packing, finishing up last-minute little details as we prepare for our trip back to real life. Right now, we’re both sipping coffee and we have the fireplace going for a last few moments of the bliss of writing together by the fire. One sorta goofy thing that’s happened here is that the air is very dry and the static electricity is through the roof. Yesterday morning I woke up with my hair looking like I’d stuck my finger in a light socket. It took dampening my brush and running it through my hair to calm it down. This morning Liz had the same issue. We really wished we…
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Authors on the Road Day 4
Liz takes over the blog today to share Day 4 of our writing retreat… After our obligatory hair appointment today, sporting curls on Nan and my usual flat-iron look on me, we went to lunch at Vinny Vanucchi’s in downtown Galena. We had excellent service and excellent food and opted not to have one of the most decadent looking desserts I’ve ever forced myself to turn down. Only minutes later, we were in a candy shop and never mind what we were doing there. What happens in Galena stays in Galena. Then we went on the history part of the day, enjoying a long and enlightening tour of the beautiful…
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Authors on the Road Day 3
Well, kids, I’m tired, I’m brain dead after a day of writing and I’ve had too much wine (I blame Liz for that, although I poured it myself, but she could’ve stopped me.) That’s me in my “writing sweater”–a very tattered sweater that once belonged to my sister Kate, who left us way too soon. I wear to write because it’s magic–words come when I have it on. I think they come in through the holes… I could be wrong about that, but I don’t think I am. It was a day of all writing all the time. We didn’t even leave the condo building. It was a miserable weather…
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Authors on The Road Day 2
Day 2 from beautiful Galena, Illinois. Liz here… We slept pretty well last night, considering we weren’t in our own beds. We do have those fireplaces in our rooms, which have a lovely mesmerizing affect. At least until the timer goes off and the fire goes out. We were up pretty early this morning, ramping up our word counts and talking about what we would do this afternoon and what we needed to do with our works-in-progress. Oh, and we ate some stuff. And drank some stuff. And talked some more. This is the exciting, dramatic stuff writing retreats are made of. We had a good late lunch at Durty…
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Authors On the Road Day 1
We arrived! We drove…and drove…and drove, but we got here safely and are loving our place! I knew that sister PJ vacationed with aplomb, but who knew Lizzie and I would enjoy such luxury? First though, the trip. I asked Gigi (my GPS) to avoid toll roads and interstates, and boy, did she! Part of our trip was on long country roads, past cornfields and farms and pastures with cows and horses. Delightful scenery! Interestingly, the route she took us on had so few towns, large or small, that we were starting to wonder whether Illinois actually had any small towns. We finally found a place for food and enjoyed…
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Sunday Snippet: The Authors on the Road, Fall Edition
Despite last week saying I never know what day of the week it is, I actually do know it’s Sunday today, mainly because I’m writing the Sunday Snippet. But also because Liz and I are headed out for our fall writing retreat this morning. We’re headed to Galena, Illinois. Do you guys know that town? We’ve never been there before, which is part of the fun of going, and we have sister PJ and BIL to thank for the accommodations. They’re letting us use their condo. It looks pretty luxurious and has an indoor pool! (That’s the magic word for me, and graciously, Liz goes along with me, even though…
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Sunday Snippet: The Writing in the Information Age Edition
It’s been a week, mes amis. I’m working hard on my current WIP–the first book in the Dykemans of River’s Edge series. Liz and I went on a very fruitful, if extremely chilly, writer retreat, where both of us wrote words and did a lot processing. Even more of “what’s the word for this” along with a gesture or a motion. We do that a lot when we’re writing together. Liz is an invaluable resource and I can’t imagine writing a book without her input. We ate some good food, drank a little less wine than usual, and found a fab little place for breakfast right near our hotel. Otherwise,…
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Sunday Snippet: The Words Sometimes Come Hard Edition
I’m in a weird place with this new work-in-progress. I like the story, I like the characters, but somehow I’m having a problem getting them to move along. I have more notes about this first story in my new series than I did starting out any other River’s Edge series, mostly because a lot of this story happens away from River’s Edge. But I also have more word notes, more conversation notes, more scene notes than any book I’ve ever written. It’s almost as if I’m writing the book in my notes, but when I get to the computer, the words are coming hard. Funny thing is, I know this…
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Author Spotlight: It’s Me with Some Fun Stuff for You
Congratulations, Debra and Linda, you two are my winners of a $5 Amazon gift card and a free e-book ARC of Made to Love You. I’ll get those right out to you! Yup, today I’m in my own Spotlight, which happens now and again. I hope you forgive my shameless self-promotion, but I confess this blog sometimes does that. It is snowy here in the Midwest, which is okay by me. The world is white and quiet and the snow sparkles in the sunlight. The brisk cold sorta takes your breath away, but it’s wondrous to watch from inside my warm cozy house. Here’s a little something to warm your…
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Sunday Snippet: The Post-Retreat Musings Edition
I’m in a post-retreat haze. It happens every year after Liz and I get back from our semiannual (it means twice a year, I looked it up!) writing retreat. We do one in January in a little town in the hills of Southern Indiana and we do one in October, usually somewhere in Michigan. At every retreat, we write and talk and eat and drink wine and write and process and talk endlessly and write… Oh, and did I mention that there’s always great wine and chocolate and lots of good food? (I think I might have, but it bears repeating.) We don’t do restaurants quite as much as we…