the view from our boatel balcony

My writer’s group and I went to a lovely resort area for the weekend to get away from ‘normal’ life to write.

As you can see from the above photo, we had a beautiful view and perfect weather for our retreat. This is Rend Lake, a part of Wayne Fitzgerrell State Park, off IL Route 154, not far from Mt. Vernon, IL.

We had great weather the whole weekend, got lots of writing done on our novels, ate too much food (though it was mostly healthy and brought from home), played several games of Monopoly(R) Deal, and laughed a lot. These are always great times to discuss writing topics, share writing tips and ideas, hash out blog or plot issues and a host of other things. Writers get writers and we get along so well, it is such a blessing.

the three of us in front of the conference center; l-r are Bev, myself, and Pat

On Saturday night, the resort had it’s first Boat Light Show and we got the privilege of watching the boats go by. The pictures aren’t great because we were too far away (and it was dark), but here are two of them. The last one had a big white cross on it which was very cool and we clapped when it passed by.

one of the boats in the light parade

the white cross in the boat light parade

A great time was had by all!

Do you have any neat places around you to go on a retreat? Even just going to a nearby park for a few hours can feel like a mini-retreat. I highly recommend any way possible to go on a retreat. It is so rewarding in many ways.

~~Michelle