Sunday, June 30, 2013

Postcard from the retreat

My 'Christmas card list' tour continued with a trip to the south west recently. Friends in Devon and Dorset were 'treated' to my company while I abused their hospitality and called it a holiday. A working holiday though. In between weekend stays with friends, I spent the week at a writing retreat and made good progress on my current novel.

You may think that all I'd need to write a novel is an idea (check), a laptop (check), and some time (check). I find the discipline of devoting time to the job a good incentive to get on with it though. At Retreats for You almost all distractions are removed. Delicious food is served without need for shopping or cooking, drinks and snacks are freely available and convivial company is restricted to certain times. Meaning: all other hours can be devoted solely to writing. So I did. Except. It is important to exercise the body as well as the mind. The picture shows the River Torridge which was down a steep enough hill from my writing desk to class as strenuous and that dog needed to be taken for its swim.

Just to reassure you I was working, here's my Devon desk. I miss it already.


3 comments:

Timberati said...

You're much furrier than I imagined.:-p

It looks like a very nice place.

chramies said...

Looks lovely. I shall be investigating Retreats For You soonest.

Katharine D'Souza said...

Hi Norm & Chris - it is a great place. Comes highly recommended by me - this was my 3rd visit.