Full post published at Amanda Headlee: It is Always Darkest Before the Dawn

(c) 2014, Amanda Headlee

Last week, I had the pleasure of escaping reality and hiding away at the When Words Count Retreat in Rochester, Vermont.  For an entire week I stopped answering emails, texts, and phone calls. I minimized my social media interactions and focused wholly on my novel.  You know, the one that I have been struggling to kick off for about a year now.

What I love about When Words Count was that from the moment I stepped inside the door, the spirit of famous authors surrounded me.  Various pictures of authors and book covers decorate the retreat’s walls and enhance the old farmhouse charm.  It is a bibliophile’s (and writer’s) heaven.  Each room within the retreat is themed after an American author.  I had the pleasure of staying in the Flannery O’Connor room, where each night I fell asleep under a gorgeous portrait of one of the most prolific short story author that has ever existed.  Before the sweet embrace of REM overtook my slumber, I said a short sweet prayer to Ms. O’Connor to influence my dreams and guide my writing hand.

Read the rest of this story here.