REfreshed, REfueled, REtreated!

Uh-huh, oh yeah! That's right! I'm a new girl now. My writing confidence has been lower than a tick on the belly of a worm. But this weekend . . . Well, let's just say that I'm still flying high from being refreshed and refueled. It also doesn't hurt that Jennifer Rees, (the editor of The Hunger Games) critiqued my work and had very nice things to say about it. Things that will keep me going for quite some time.



The guest speakers in attendance were: Jennifer Rees from scholastic, Bruce Hale, Author of the Chet Gecko series among other books, and Stacy Cantor from Walker books.

It was an amazing retreat, restful and yet productive. Pure nerve-soothing, confidence-boosting fabulousness.

As I digest the things that I learned, I'll post about them here. So many great things. Enough to possibly give me blogging material for the rest of the year! In addition to Critter postings, of course.

May is looking good!

May is looking better for me than April. April about did me in. This gives a whole new meaning to April showers bring May flowers. My April was more like a down pour, but I do have some pretty awesome May flowers coming up!

First, is that my 16 year Anniversary is on the 8th. 16 years! Wow!

Then, my critique group is hosting an SCBWI Schmooze at Quail Ridge Books on May 17th. You're welcome to come if you're in the area.

And then today . . . I finished making travel plans to attend a writing retreat for a Highlights Founders Workshop called Mining Your Memories led by author, Rich Wallace. I read one of his books, "Restless" a coupe of weeks ago. It was very clever and entertaining.


I learned so much from the Chapel Hill retreat that I attended last year. It was a great experience for me in so many ways.

ahhhhhh . . . having things to look forward to feels really, really good!

I just finished reading Savvy by Ingrid Law. It's such a cute and clever book with a strong voice. It's a fun read!

The hubby and I have also been talking about being able to work into our budget either a trip to the SCBWI LA conference or a Chautauqua writing retreat. The problem is that I can't decide which one. Part of me thinks the retreat would be more beneficial for me at this stage in the game, but then again, there are so many potential contacts at the LA retreat, not to mention I'd be able to see so many of my blogging and writing friends face to face. So, what do you think? If you could only pick one, which do you think would be more beneficial for an author wanna-be?