Monday Mentionables: A Writer's Retreat that Turned into Something Else

Happy Monday! This past weekend, I treated myself to a solo getaway in Charles Town, West Virginia. The goal was to see hubby at a car show in Pennsylvania Friday night, then spend some solid time writing in a town I'd never been to before, snuggled away in a bed and breakfast with my laptop and nothing else.

You know that saying about "The best laid plans..."??

I arrived at the Carriage Inn late Friday evening (gorgeous place, by the way, and the owners are lovely hosts and great breakfast cooks) and plugged in my laptop - only to discover it didn't work. There is a very long and boring story behind why it didn't work, but suffice to say that after about 30 minutes of fretting and swearing and trying everything I could think of, I realized that my writer's retreat was going to be minus the writing.

For a few minutes, I actually considered going out early Saturday morning and buying a new laptop.

Then I said to myself, hang on. Thousands of people wrote before laptops ever came into existence. I can write without one. 

So instead, I went to the local grocery store, bought a $1 notebook (and some bulk candy and wine for sustenance), and spent the rest of the day thinking and brainstorming and drafting ideas. I didn't end up getting the massive amount of writing done that I originally planned, but you know what? There was something very relaxing about walking around town, sitting at an outside restaurant for lunch, napping on the day bed back in my room, and jotting down thoughts as they came to me. I even had time to go to the historic village of Harper's Ferry and watch the train pass by as I lounged on the grass after wandering around the recreated village buildings. Relaxing. Rejuvenating.

While it wasn't the writing-intensive weekend I originally envisioned, in many ways it was better. Just a reminder that when our plans fail, the best thing to do is look for another way, search for that open window and carry on :)