Writers' Retreat 2012

The last week of June, I ran away. I left the family behind and hightailed it up to the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan - where I grew up. :)

About as far north in Michigan as you can get. :)

We stayed at a cottage just outside of Gay, Michigan right on the gorgeous shore of Lake Superior.

I spend the week with Bronwyn Green, Jennifer Armintrout, Mia Watts, Kris Norris, and our friend Emily. We wrote, talked, drank wine, ate bacon cheesecake (thank you Jen Armintrout for the introduction to that amazing treat!), explored the area, collected rocks...and relaxed. :)

I arrived on Saturday. Because we are down to one car (SOB), the hubs brought me up there (a 7 hour drive from the Twin Cities, bless him!), and I spent time with my mom until the other ladies arrived. Then we headed to Gay - a tiny little town that doesn't have much in it.

Oh wait, there's the Gay Bar. My sister used to tend bar there. :)

 The cottage was perfect, in my opinion. Secluded, right on the lake. Sure, the bathroom was tiny (as in you had to bend funnily to sit on the pot), and we didn't have ANY cell service, let alone internet, but for me, that was okay. One, it was indoor plumbing, so yay. And writing without the distraction of my phone and the internet...that was pretty much perfection in my book.

Our view from right outside the cottage.

We settled in, going into town (Calumet/Laurium or Houghton/Hancock) periodically to check emails or call to check on kids. 

Sunrise at our little slice of heaven.

 On Tuesday, as a reward for hitting our word count goals for the day, we went to Mickey's Bar in Laurium for karaoke. It was a blast. I ran into some ladies I'd graduated high school with, sang, acted like a fool... Like I said, a blast. Though, I have to say my favorite part of the evening was the older gentleman who was playing pool who had a bit of a crush on Kris Norris. When we were in his way and we said sorry, he said as he watch Kris bust a move, "Oh, I can play pool anytime!" Kris was sweet enough to even do a two step with him. :)

On Wednesday, we drove down to Houghton. Both my and Bronwyn's hubbies went to Michigan Tech which is in that town. We went to to one of my favorite restaurants - the Ambassador - for lunch.

No trip up there is complete unless I've had a slice of their tostada pizza.

The spread we ordered. There was lots of yummy moaning sounds around the table as we sampled our food.

 On Thursday, Bronwyn, Mia and I went back to Houghton to have lunch at The Library. Another great place and I didn't take any pics (bad Jess!) We were joined by Bill, a DNR officer for the state of Michigan. Bronwyn ruined his life. LOL For THAT story, go here and have a read.

Jen and Emily headed back downstate on Friday, which of course made the rest of us sad. So we headed up to Copper Harbor to explore. Just the right medicine to cheer one up. :) We had a lovely lunch at Keweenaw Mountain Lodge, visited a bunch of gift shops. 

Keweenaw Mountain Lodge

This sign made me laugh.

Copper Harbor's one-room schoolhouse

US-41 starts in Copper Harbor and ends in Florida. In town, there's a sign that says "FLORIDA 1990 MILES" My pic of that didn't turn out. :(

I'll save my pics from my and Bronwyn's drive back down the coast for another post.

On Saturday, the ladies dropped me off at my mom and dad's and headed back home. I was sad to see them go. I totally miss their faces. LOL

I think this retreat is going to be an annual thing, and I am thrilled about that. I can't wait until the next time!

Hugs
~J

Grand Rapids Highlights AKA My Awesome Weekend

I had the most FANTASTIC time this weekend at the Grand Rapids Region Writers Group's "I've Always Wanted to Write a Book!" conference. This was the first conference this group has offered, and you would never know it. It ran very smoothly and was a wonderful experience.

I didn't attend every workshop offered, but the ones I did were very much worth my time.

Friday evening, there was a wine tasting. The wines offered were all Michigan wines...who knew there was such fabulous wine in that state?! Well, I do now and I think I'll be stocking up on some when I drive there to visit family. :-D

The first workshop I attended was on relaxation for productivity. Much of this workshop was experiential, which was wonderful. We listened to a CD with guided imagery. It was very relaxing and I felt very refreshed afterwards. Writing this reminds me I have to buy a copy of the CD! I've always been a big fan of guided imagery and self-hypnosis. I know there are skeptics out there, but I'm firmly in the believer camp. I used the techniques to quit smoking and it worked when nothing else did!

Next, I went to "How to Make the Most of Your Writing Time" presented by the delightful Margaret Yang. She had some wonderful ideas and suggestions. I loved how passionate she was about the subject, and it really made me acknowledge to myself just how much time I wasted during the day. While not purposefully wasted, it's an obscene amount of time during which many words could be written.

After lunch and my pitch to the literary agent (yeah, those were my knees knocking. This stuff never gets easier, I swear), I attend "Authors Behaving Badly" where Jen Armintrout and Bronwyn Green talked about, and sometimes demonstrated, some things authors shouldn't do--on social media, in public venues and so on. It was hilarious, but very, very informative.

I hit the book-signing, then visited with my new buddy, Shannon in the hotel lounge for a while. Funnily enough, we ended up on the same flight out of Grand Rapids, one row apart. What are the odds of that? Definitely made what was sure to have been a very boring plane ride fun and enjoyable. :-D

And that was it--the end of a conference I loved attending. I hope this is something GRRWG will do annually, because I would love to go again.

On a non-conference note, I went to dinner with a small group after the conference. We went to the Melting Pot. O...M...G!! Seriously this was one of the best meals I ever had. And when I say mean, I mean MEAL. Four courses of awesomeness. There were many moans of pleasure around the table, let me tell you. I was so excited to find out we have a Melting Pot in the Twin Cities. I can't wait to take the hubs. I tweeted about how good the food was...and Melting Pot tweeted me back. How funny (in a cool way) is that?

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend. I was a little sad to leave, but quite happy to come home to the family.

Hugs
~J

Looking Forward to the Weekend

Why I'm Looking Forward to

"I've Always Wanted to Write a Book!"

(conference hosted by Grand Rapids Region Writers Group)

I'm getting away for the weekend! *happy dance* I love my family to death, but seriously we all need a break, right? 

I'm going to Michigan. :-) Yay! My favorite state EVAH!


I get to see some of my favorite people - Bronwyn Green, Brynn Paulin, Mia Watts and Jennifer Armintrout.

I get to go to the "Making the Most of Your Writing Time" workshop with Margaret Yang. Is it dorky that I'm looking forward to this one like nobody's business? Yeah? Well, I can totally accept that.

Did I mention I get to go away for the weekend??? :-)
See ya all when I get back!

Hugs
~J

Write, write, write....

...is what's on my agenda for the foreseeable future. Not incredibly exciting but there it is. LOL I've some deadlines creeping up, and while I'm completely on track to meet said deadlines, I know how easily I can be to get sidetracked. (Oooooh, SQUIRREL!) Luckily, I have some rocking friends who are always will to kick me in the posterior should I need it...some with steel-toed boots! :-O

I've been joining in on a Twitter #WordWar with a couple of fabulous authors - Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Mia Watts, Jennifer Armintrout...and whoever else wants to jump on in. The deal is to write for 45 minutes (quarter after the hour until the next hour) then take a 15-minute break...then do it all over again. I've found I'm very productive when I have to actually report my word count each round. LOL Feel free to come on over and check out the exchange between all of us. We're always good for a few laughs...particularly someone who delights in being inappropriate....though I won't name names. ;-) You can follow me and join in the fun! The "war" is usually on M-F, 10-2ish (EST). :)

And, of course, the fabulous Devon Rhodes regularly taps into my competitive streak - and we battle it out in the evenings. Whoever gets the most words written in an hour wins the round. Since we write at a similar pace, it's usually a close call. :-D

So I'm very lucky in the company I keep as they keep me motivated to churn out as many words as I can. :-)

Now, I'm off to get more words written and get this book done!
Hugs
~J