One of the reasons I chose to go to North Carolina in mid-April was that I miss Spring.
There are some really great things about living in southwestern Florida, but one of the negatives is that we don’t really have a a change of seasons. I wanted that, so I went out and found it for myself.
I spent a good deal of time on my writing retreat on hiking trails.
I realize that could sound counter-intuitive to getting writing done, but it’s actually a huge help. Being out in nature always fuels my creativity and helps me come up with new ideas.
The act of walking tends to help me sort through the jumble of ideas I’ve got tangled up in my head.
When I was walking with Donna of Girl Who Reads we came across this:
I must admit that I didn’t follow its advice. I hiked for miles alone. (Well, the dog was with me, but she’s no Lassie….if I fell and needed help, she wasn’t going to go find Timmy for me.)
Because I’d seen that sign, I did find myself humming Green Day’s “I walk alone” on a pretty continuous loop.
So if you see a character named Greenday in one of my future works, you’ll know where it came from…. 😉
writing retreat
Tiny house for a writing retreat
The day after my lovely visit with Donna of GIRL WHO READS I headed to outside of Asheville, North Carolina.
I rented a tiny house there.
How tiny, Jen?
So tiny that I could touch the kitchen sink, table and bed simultaneously (without stretching). It was so tiny there wasn’t space to lay out my yoga mat, lol.
I picked this place because it provided a cute little writing nook.
The woman who owned this place is obviously obsessed with baskets. There were 16 scattered throughout the tiny house.
It was time to tap into my creativity and let the writing flow!
Lunch with a Book Blogger
I stopped in Georgia on my way to my writing retreat for a very special reason.
I REALLY wanted to meet Donna, who runs the fabulous GIRL WHO READS book blog.
Donna was one of the first reviewers to write a review of my first book, THE FIRST VICTIM back in 2011 and she’s reviewed every one of my books since.
Thankfully, considering there was a storm, including a tornado watch (gulp!) Donna was super flexible about meeting with me. We met at a park, so that I could bring my dog, Smudge along, after the storm broke.
Donna made us a delicious picnic lunch and we just had the best time, talking and walking and laughing for hours. She’s smart, charming and so much fun! 
Writing retreat research
On my way to my North Carolina writing retreat I stopped off just outside of Athens, Georgia.
Since this was my first road trip with my dog, and I wasn’t sure how she’d do spending so much time in the car, I decided to spend two nights here to break up the trip.
But because I’m a bit on the quirky side, I decided to satisfy my long-standing curiosity about RV/Campers and stay in one. I really want to set a series based on an RV trip. I even planted the seeds for it in THE HITWOMAN TAKES A ROAD TRIP.
I decided I could justify my stay as “research”.
Plus, I wanted to get a feel for whether I want to rent one next year and take myself on a cross-country adventure. I figured two nights of dealing with the small space would give me an idea how I felt about it.
This one was parked on a small farm.
I’d like to say I loved the experience, but I had mixed feelings. It wasn’t the limited space that was a problem for me; it was the movement (even though it was parked the whole time).
Maybe it was because it was fairly windy (there was even a tornado watch for a few hours) but I ended up with motion sickness.
Then, because I was feeling so sick, I turned off the ROARING fan in the hopes I could get some sleep. I did for a few hours until the carbon monoxide detector alarm went off at 3:18 a.m. waking me and scaring the dog, who then started barking her head off.
I guess that even with the windows cracked, you shouldn’t turn off the fan. Who knew?
Deciding to go on a writing retreat
I’m a full-time novelist so it may sound strange to say that I decided to go on a writing retreat. But I did and it was totally worth it. This month I’ll be talking all about it!
Why go on a writing retreat?
I wanted to do something different to shake up my writing routine. I had a project to finish, another I wanted to get started, and a fun, passion project I wanted to play with.
Also, I miss Spring. While there’s a lot to love about living in southwest Florida, one of the things I miss, being a NJ transplant, is the change of seasons.
I also wanted a change of topography. It’s soooo flat around here. I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that the average elevation in Sarasota is 16 feet. That’s not a typo, SIXTEEN!
So I decided to go to the Asheville, North Carolina area in mid-April. Spring! Mountains! No neighbors to get stuck talking to!
I made my plans in January, got the “business side” of my writing world squared away so I only had to focus on the creative end, packed my car, buckled in my dog, and took off.
But before we got to Asheville, we stopped in Georgia because there was something I wanted to try and someone I really wanted to meet!
I’ll tell you about those soon, but let me share the good omen that greeted me in Georgia.
When I was a kid, my favorite book was HORSE OF TWO COLORS so this scene made me happy.
