Revitalizing Caribbean Retreat: How I Survived A Week Without Writing
We skipped our weekly newsletter last week, because I was enjoying some family time with my oldest son and granddaughter. It was the first time I’d seen them in person since before the pandemic started.
Several people have looked at me strangely when I’ve mentioned that little factoid.
How could I go four years without seeing my kids?
Well, it certainly wasn’t something I planned!!!!
They used to live in Seattle, where I enjoyed visiting them. Last time I was there was August, 2019, to celebrate my granddaughter’s 24th birthday. Yes, I have a now-28-year-old granddaughter.
I figured I’d be back the next year for one occasion or another. . . but then, COVID happened.
My son loved Seattle. He told me several times, “Mom, I just love this city. I can’t picture myself ever living anywhere else.”
Until lockdown. All of a sudden, his comfortable and convenient downtown apartment (his living room window overlooked the Public Market sign on Pike Place one block away, with Puget Sound filling the entire vista) became less comfortable. The streets were devoid of life, except for the homeless population which exploded almost overnight. Businesses tacked plywood over their windows for fear of breakage and looting, and he started describing it as a “militarized zone.”
At the same time, a genuinely crazy person moved into my granddaughter’s building and terrorized all the women who lived there.
So, following my excellent example, my son obtained a digital nomad visa that allowed him to live and work in Antigua for two years, where he could continue working for his Seattle-based employer, because, you know, working from home.
Then my granddaughter did the same thing, but she moved to Georgia. The country on the other side of the world, not the state. The loneliness got to her, and she left Georgia after a year, and joined her dad in Antigua.
All of which goes a long way to explaining why it had been so long since I’d seen them.
Anyway, we had a lovely visit, and I enjoyed myself hugely. So much so that I didn’t give a thought to my book revisions.
I had actually worried about that. I’d decided not to take my laptop with me, and since I’m currently using Scrivener and it’s installed only on my laptop, I chose to not be able to work on it while I was there.
The good news is, Lily and Michael and all the other characters survived without me for a week, and I came back refreshed and able to work with them once more.
Even writers need vacations! When’s the last time you had one?
What I’m Reading
The Lord Edgington Investigates series by Benedict Brown
This is an interesting series. The narrator is Lord Edgington’s 16-year old grandson, Christopher, a schoolboy who’s been in boys’ boarding schools all his life so he’s very socially awkward. He adores his grandfather, who defied his family as a young man, turned his back on his wealth and social position, and became a policeman. Over a long and stellar career he became a detective of some renown.
In the first book in the series, Murder at the Spring Ball, Lord Edgington comes out his self-imposed seclusion following the death of his wife and decides to re-enter the social whirl of the day (1920s) by hosting a ball. Unfortunately one of his daughters, and then his son, are murdered. In front of witnesses.
The Inspector sent to take charge of the crimes is Lord Edgington’s old nemesis from his days on the force, so he decides to take the detection into his own hands and uses Christopher as his assistant.
As an assistant, Christopher is willing and helpful, but pretty clueless. He’s even more naive than Sherlock Holmes’ Watson or Poirot’s sidekick Hastings. It makes for a delightful story.
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Notable Quotes
At school we were taught from a young age that such open displays of emotion are a sign of weakness and only women and feeble men would ever allow themselves such hysteria. I don’t like my school and think this is a stupid attitude to have, so I felt no great shame.
- Murder at the Spring Ball by Benedict Brown
This is typical of the narration throughout the book. Self deprecating, honest, and a little silly.
He was itching to make a start on the book that, in his mind, he’d begun to put together and for that he needed to be back at Overlay House. A writer’s dilemma, he thought drily. Torture while you were actually writing and frustration when you weren’t.
- Murder in a French Village by Merryn Allingham
The “he” in this quote is Flora’s boyfriend, a mystery writer. I’ve often felt like that, though fortunately I escaped the frustration part this past week while I was in Antigua.