I participated in a one-day writing retreat last weekend, a chance to challenge myself by writing to prompts and shaking up my usual routine with a new setting—namely, the McMenamins Edgefield, a historic property full of whimsical art and tucked away rooms and buildings to explore.  A few days before the workshop, local media reported a burst pipe had caused an evacuation and flooding at the Edgefield.  Thankfully the damage wasn’t as bad as the news made it seem, and the workshop could proceed as planned.  I arrived to the sight of equipment, tubing, lots of work being done in the hallways, plastic around all the piping, that sort of thing.  It added some extra character to a place that already has lots of that.

In the afternoon I plunked myself down in the property’s Little Red Shed, a little hobbit house of a building, for a quiet writing session.  I had the place pretty much to myself.

It was a lovely, productive day.