Friends and Colleagues . . .
Last weekend, my critique group (five ladies who make up the Plot Queens) rented a cabin in Silver River State Park from Friday to Sunday. The intended reason for the retreat was to get together in a relaxed atmosphere and help each other over some writing stumbling blocks sans the interruptions of friends and family and the outside world in general.
Amidst the laughter of late nights, Heather Waters, Vickie King, Kat McMahon, Laura Barone and I plotted five books and critiqued three first chapters. Productive? Absolutely. But we accomplished much more. We became reacquainted as friends.
There were no frills. I don’t think any of us did our hair or makeup. The uniform of the day was sweats, T-shirts, shorts and bare feet. Hey, when we relax, we relax! The cabin was beautiful: two bedrooms, a pullout couch, a full bath and kitchen (with a dishwasher), a dining area and a gas fireplace in the living room. Note I did not mention a phone or a TV. But the big draw, and where we spent most of our time, was a wraparound screened porch with rockers and a picnic table. We even got serenaded by our neighbors’ stab at karioke and visited by one of the characters from my books, Fluffy the armadillo.
But all that was window dressing. The real discovery was remembering what makes each of us laugh, pet names we’ve given each other, what foods we like and don’t like (and we had enough of that to feed us for weeks instead of three days and the biggest share seemed to be chocolate and chips), and how much we just enjoy each other’s company and talking writing.
My point here is that sometimes you just have to steal time for yourself with friends. It’s an invigorating process that fills an empty emotional tank and makes the rest of your life, no matter how crappy it is, seem not so bad. Family is an essential part of all our lives, but sometimes you just need to get away from the responsibilities and the day-to-day, humdrum existence of doing for everyone but yourself.
Laugh until your sides ache. Stay up until you get so silly everything makes you laugh. Eat all the things you wouldn’t normally let past your lips. Worry more about making your soul beautiful than you do about how you look on the outside. Share yourself with people who may not be able to solve your problems, but are at least willing to really listen. Go to a place where there’s no TV and phone, just people you love and who love you.
Blessings,
Elizabeth
Amidst the laughter of late nights, Heather Waters, Vickie King, Kat McMahon, Laura Barone and I plotted five books and critiqued three first chapters. Productive? Absolutely. But we accomplished much more. We became reacquainted as friends.
There were no frills. I don’t think any of us did our hair or makeup. The uniform of the day was sweats, T-shirts, shorts and bare feet. Hey, when we relax, we relax! The cabin was beautiful: two bedrooms, a pullout couch, a full bath and kitchen (with a dishwasher), a dining area and a gas fireplace in the living room. Note I did not mention a phone or a TV. But the big draw, and where we spent most of our time, was a wraparound screened porch with rockers and a picnic table. We even got serenaded by our neighbors’ stab at karioke and visited by one of the characters from my books, Fluffy the armadillo.
But all that was window dressing. The real discovery was remembering what makes each of us laugh, pet names we’ve given each other, what foods we like and don’t like (and we had enough of that to feed us for weeks instead of three days and the biggest share seemed to be chocolate and chips), and how much we just enjoy each other’s company and talking writing.
My point here is that sometimes you just have to steal time for yourself with friends. It’s an invigorating process that fills an empty emotional tank and makes the rest of your life, no matter how crappy it is, seem not so bad. Family is an essential part of all our lives, but sometimes you just need to get away from the responsibilities and the day-to-day, humdrum existence of doing for everyone but yourself.
Laugh until your sides ache. Stay up until you get so silly everything makes you laugh. Eat all the things you wouldn’t normally let past your lips. Worry more about making your soul beautiful than you do about how you look on the outside. Share yourself with people who may not be able to solve your problems, but are at least willing to really listen. Go to a place where there’s no TV and phone, just people you love and who love you.
Blessings,
Elizabeth
posted by Elizabeth Sinclair at
9:52 AM
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