DIY writers retreat

I've just returned home from a DIY writers' retreat. This was the second time my friend Hildy Morgan and I traveled to the shore to carve out a time away, a time dedicated to concentrated effort on our works-in-progress. No meals to prep, no laundry or dirty floors calling, no weeds or seeds or countless other needs of home vying for attention. Just stories - telling them, discussing them, dissecting them, writing them. Hildy is a perfect partner for such a retreat.

Stories flowed as we watched the rising sun transform the visible world, the churning sea at first steel gray, then touched with a glowing band of red, then coral, then gold, until the full sun danced silver-white on the water. Who wouldn't be inspired?

In the days away, I wrote 5000+ words on my novel-in-progress, the sequel to Risking Exposure. That places me about two-thirds done with the first draft, on target with my goal - finish the first draft by year's end.

Next week, I head to Washington DC for a research day at the Library of Congress. I'll keep you posted.