Mexican Writing Retreat
Feb. 26th, 2011 02:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
For the past week, Delia & I have been with friends in a perfect little jewel of a colonial town in Mexico. We're in a huge glorious palazzo of an 18c house together on a writing retreat, and while I fear I have spent far too much of my time trying to raise funds and attract stations to our Witches of Lublin show for April, I have managed to complete, polish & submit a short story to Jonathan Strahan's YA Witches anthology - a whole 2 days before the deadline, yet! (Those who know me of old will know what a crazy achievement that is.) I've also - after a fair amount of dithering & taking counsel of the assembled colleagues - officially begun a new novel. Of which more later. And I've listened to other people's plot points, and read assorted mss., and counseled in my turn. And eaten lots of amazing Mexican food, and found the massive rings I've always wanted (one rocky opal, one labradorite), and gotten very nearly enough sunlight to banish all mooligrubs . . . and found myself living in a gloriously aesthetic and luxurious space that is the sort of place one usually visits only in dreams. There is a colonnaded courtyard with a fountain, into which bougainvillea blossoms drop and float. Here is a photo of Delia working in it:

(There really is a fountain in the middle. I guess I must be standing behind it. I will try to post more photos, if I can find a way to do it without being too annoying.)
(There really is a fountain in the middle. I guess I must be standing behind it. I will try to post more photos, if I can find a way to do it without being too annoying.)
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Date: 2011-02-26 08:34 am (UTC)Man, I lived 8 months (2 months first time, 6 mos the second) in Mexico, but it wasn't like this!
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Date: 2011-02-26 09:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-26 11:55 am (UTC)And a new book—what great news!
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Date: 2011-02-26 12:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-26 01:31 pm (UTC)We can all see that. You've used faerie magic to stick poor Delia in some Colonial era painting. Probably with those new magic rings of yours. Shame on you Ellen, taking one little tiff and banishing her to such a glorious, wonderful, sun-drenched....wait...could you use a bit of that on me? Delia looks lonely.
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Date: 2011-02-26 02:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-26 03:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-26 04:26 pm (UTC)New short story! New NOVEL! Courtyard! Fountain! Time! Sunshine!
All the good things in life. You haven't mentioned food, but I bet it's glorious.
Writer's retreat
Date: 2011-02-26 05:50 pm (UTC)No, I am two gogs.
I just got back from my own writer's retreat. It rained every day except for the day it snowed.
This because the Connecticut shore of Long Island Sound in February is different from Mexico in February.
I'll have to take that information into account next time...
On the upside: Two cats plus fireplace plus rainy day have their own charms.
- Rosemary
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Date: 2011-02-26 10:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-27 02:19 am (UTC)