The writing retreat in Tata was a huge success.

Well, the reading at Fables was—let’s call it an intimate affair. Usually on the Friday night of our retreat, we Common members would read to each other that which we’d accomplished that day. And so it was at Fables that night, but with a few extra people listening in. We were up against the annual celebration of Bob Dylan, an event we would all have loved to have gone to, so we weren’t too bothered. And Chuck and Hanna at Fables treated us like royalty and we would go back in a heartbeat, even if no one came to see us read.

The house we rented was amazing. A proper cottage with a wood stove and a wrap around verandah and an unobstructed view of the sea. We watched a huge orange moon sink into the ocean alarming fast after midnight one night and it stunned us into awed silence. We ate delicious food and shopped at the farmers’ market and did yoga on the lawn of our house and made roaring fires in the evenings.

And we wrote. Or at least, I did. I wrote five thousand words, which is what I strive for at these things. Five thousand pretty decent words, too. It was terrifying, because as I’ve mentioned before I got all my characters together in one place and then abandoned them for several months, but I managed to pick things up where I’d left off, and it was fascinating to travel along with them, watching the shifting dynamic now that they’re three on the road, not two and one.

I have been saying this for months, but now it’s almost true: the book I’ve been editing will soon be finished. And when it is, look out Fallsy Downsies, I’m coming for you.

In other news, piano recital is next Saturday, and running continues to be a thing that I do. I’m no longer blogging at the Bluenose site, but I think I will add a running page to this website, because writing about it was a really key part of my process, and enough people seem interested in what I’m up to that I might as well keep all y’all in the loop. I can’t promise I’ll get to that soon, but I will get to it, so stay tuned.