A weekend in West Virginia
^ I absolutely loved this house! It was so beautiful and it made me sad to see it abandoned. How perfect would it be to live in this house in an abandoned town and write horror novels?!
I've been sick the last couple of weeks. Way too much stress and not enough self-care. Pneumonia knocked me down hard and it's taking me a while to rebuild but I'm finally feeling like myself again and getting back into the swing of things.
Luckily I was well enough to go on a weekend writing retreat in Fayettville, Wv. My author friend and fellow cat rescuer Wendy Welch is spending three months in a lovely apartment where she was chosen to do a writing residency. Another writing, cat rescuing friend and I rode up together (writing and cats go together like pb&j) and had a wonderful and productive time.
Fayettville is a cute little town with lots of great shops and yummy places to eat. We spent our mornings getting in our word counts for the day and tossing ideas back and forth to one another. It's always refreshing to spend time with other writers and share similar "Me too!" moments. Our afternoons were spent walking and shopping, exploring the local area. One little town not far away, Thurmond, Wv, is a nearly abandoned railroad town with a complicated history. It was also the setting for the movie Matewan, which we watched later that night while attempting to work a 1000 piece puzzle and drinking a nice bottle of pinot noir. We writers know how to have a wild Saturday night.
Overall the trip was wonderfully relaxing and rejuvenating and helped me really get into writing the story for my second book in the Gravedigger series. Stay tuned for the cover reveal for "The Girl Who Digs Graves" I'll be sharing later this week!
