D. Pat Thomas

Yes, the view from the porch was amazing at my first writers' retreat. The Salt City Genre Writers Chapter of LUW (League of Utah Writers) gathered in an enormous house for a long November weekend, and filled the kitchen with M & Ms, chocolate covered expresso beans, an impressive array of liquor and enough food to stay for weeks. During the days, folks found a corner and madly wrote as much as possible. Many were participating in NaNoWriMo, an annual November effort by participating members to set a writing goal (like 50,000 words) and then work like crazy to meet it. It was wondrous to have a whole cadre of experienced writers to ask questions like, how do I access a Thesaurus with Scriviner, or what is another word for indigestion? At night we played board games, went to the hot tub, or just hung out. It was a magical mix of fun, inspriation and hard work. This will definitely not be my last retreat.