May the Forth

Be with You. I’m home, and I’ve mostly taken care of my post-travel necessities. Laundry handled. Fridge restocked. To be honest, my internal clock still seems to think I’m on the east coast, but hey … nothing wrong with getting an early start to a writing day! ::twinkle::

I spy a 4. (I’m always snapping pictures of fours.)

The writing part of my retreat has given me a solid start on the next novel on my writing docket (Hadwin is the second book in CJ’s Journeymen of Stone series.) It went from zero to 30k with about a week’s worth of full attention. Wish I could keep up that pace on the daily, but I have other responsibilities. One of those is responding to emails (many of them book orders, so thanks for that!), and my serial stories will be back this coming week.

When I’m hyper-focused on writing, I do little more than tap away at my keyboard, grab a bowl of soup or a coffee, and take walks in the neighborhood. The walks were a pleasure because Maryland was doing all kinds of spring things.

Plans also included day trips (via the Metro) into Washington D.C. so I could traipse through as many museums and galleries as possible. Eldest and I walked the entire Mall, from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial.

We really only had time for a few things, since we’re the sort to need whole days in every venue. I decided that for starters, we needed to see the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History and the National Gallery of Art (its collection spans two buildings & includes the loveliest sculpture garden). Our artistic enjoyment ranged from past masters (I geeked out over da Vinci, Raphael, Rembrandt, Renoir, Vermeer, Monet, van Gogh, Cezanne, Degas and more.) to contemporary artists (We spotted Picasso, Mondrian, Pollock, Warhol, and a whole roomful of Calder. So many. So much.) For obvious reasons, I was totally enthralled by their collection of sculptures. ::cough::Galleries of Stone::cough::

We’re already planning which galleries & museums we want to visit next time. It’s nice, having aspirations.

Anyway … it’s good to be home!