Remarkable Rural Writer's Retreat

My ADD had me wound so tight I could have flown through the doors to the general hall at the rustic Banner Mountain Lodge this weekend. Greeted by the Rural Writer's Retreat  organizers from Smither's local writer's group, we were escorted to our rooms: mine a cosy  upstairs loft- a hobbit home I loved and appreciated for the next three days.

We work-shopped and ate, had writing exercises, then ate and completed the day with a game, or wine tasting or our hearing each other's work. We rubbed elbows and raided the fridge for amazing leftovers with authors, publishers and editors.

I got what I went for and more. Filled with wonder, joy, fresh resolve and determination I said good-bye until next year  and left. I don't remember going  home from the retreat, even though I had been driving.

While there I gained overwhelming validation for my self-help cancer book, currently titled Running From The Cancer Cooties.My first "ADD meets Mystery" series was met with equal enthusiasm  I gained more than a few fans. I also became a devotee of Betsy Trumpener (CBC  Daybreak North) who wrote a collection of wild and vivid stories in The Butcher of Penetang, Maggie De Vries of Missing Sarah (a memoir of her beautiful  sister, a drug addict and sex trade worker whose DNA was found on Robert Picton's farm) and publisher Vici Johnstone (Caitlin Press)

Seated here filled with elation and vibrant energy, I realize the need to get this recent book project up and out the door before I lose the momentum I have already created. Publishers are booking Fall of 2014 already and it takes a year for a book to be prepped for publication. But that doesn't mean the manuscript sits idle. No, it is edited and edited , changed and morphed into the most powerful tool it can be. I look forward to seeing the revised edition as much as most of you.

For that reason, the blogs will be sparse and on a "when I need a break" moment only.

Please bear with me. I'll be back to weekly blogging before you know it to finish the alphabetical cancer prevention tips. Then the blogs will continue about ADD facing  life on the road selling books and talking about cancer prevention in a book store near YOU!

Thanks everyone. Keep the Faith!