Baby Brings Sideburns Back
When I was first asked to attend a writer’s retreat, I thought it would be a girls weekend. We’d drink wine, eat Nutella straight out of the jar, talk about book boyfriends, maybe watch the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice, drooling over Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy. It would be relaxing, a… well… a retreat, damn it.
I joked with my hubby about working too hard, packed up my laptop, printed a copy of my crazy mess of a manuscript, and headed off to the retreat, prepared to kick back and relax.
THEN I found out what a writing retreat truly was. There were timers. There were charts with word counts. There were five women sitting in front of laptops, writing until fingers were bloody stumps.
And that is the way it should be. We were all taking time away from our wonderful families to concentrate on our writing. We worked hard. We wrote until the wee hours of the morning. We finished manuscripts and plotted new stories. We got shit done.
Yes, we also drank wine and ate Nutella. We shared what we’ve learned thus far on our publishing journeys. We passed along opportunities we weren’t interested in, that our writing buddies might like.
I returned home energized, excited, validated. These terrific women made their writing a priority. I could also put my writing first (for a weekend at least).
One of the reasons I’m talking about writer’s retreats today is because we’re creeping close to November 1st, the start of NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writing Month. The grand NaNoWriMo challenge is to write 50,000 words (approximately 200 pages) in a month.
There will be retreats offered such as the ones I’ve attended and you’ll be expected to work at these retreats. It might seem silly to you to leave your warm, comfy house simply to sit in front of your laptop screen somewhere else.
Try it. At least once. If it doesn’t work for you, fine. Now, you know. But if it does work, it could be the exact environment you need to finish that story, to put your writing first.
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Four years ago, Bee Carter left her tiny hometown, escaping her tormenters. She concealed her tarnished reputation under a good-girl persona, hiding her history from Nicolas, her strong and silent billionaire; Hawke, her tattooed bad-boy biker; and Cyndi, her man-crazy best friend.
Today, she’s returning home … and she’s not alone. Some of her deepest, darkest secrets will be revealed. Trust will be tested. Clothing and inhibitions will be discarded. Bee and her hometown will never be the same.
When her past and her present collide, will any of Bee’s relationships survive?
Buy Links:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sinful-Rewards-Billionaires-Bikers-Novella-ebook/dp/B00I7V89N4
Barnes And Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sinful-rewards-4-cynthia-sax/1119919839
Google: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Cynthia_Sax_Sinful_Rewards_4?id=PvxzAwAAQBAJ
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/sinful-rewards-4/id814148698
