The weekend before last six of us headed up north to Perry Sound where one of my writer friends has a cottage. Well, from what I understand it’s not really a cottage as it has five bedrooms and three bathrooms, but it’s at a lake and two hours drive away from Toronto;).

Once a year my writers group heads out of town for brainstorming, writing and just hanging out for a fabulous writers retreat. We had so much fun.

This is the view from the back onto the lake

I love being at the water. I’m not a big fan of swimming or being on a boat, but sitting at the dock was pure bliss. We had wonderful weather the three days we were up there, it only rained on Monday, our travel-back-to-the-city day. Here is the lake. I was quite surprised to see a snake swimming past me on the first day. At first I thought it was a stick, but then it moved against the current and I had a closer look. I have no idea what type of snake it was, but was told it was probably a garter snake. Pretty cool!

A numbers of the ladies went for a swim.

This is the view of the cottage form the lake

We ate too much, had too much wine and laughed our socks off. I also got some writing done. In the beginning the words didn’t seem to really connect with the characters. Luckily the switch flicked and the chemistry between Adira and Mal set my laptop on fire. Now I can go back and edit the first chapters, but I wouldn’t have gotten to this point without battling through the opening. You cannot edit a blank page;).

Overall, it was a fantastic weekend and I am very much looking forward to going back next year. The ladies from my writers group are an amazing bunch! I wish I could have taped all our conversations. They’d make excellent blackmail material;).

With Labour Day past I am being told summer is over and we’re in autumn. I’m stubbornly clinging to summer. As long as I don’t have to wear a coat it’s still summer. It’s not that I don’t like autumn, but I really don’t like what comes after;).

Now I’m battening down the hatches and working hard to get Tangled Intrigue finished. There are only four more months left in the year and I want to finish two stories before the clock flips to 2013. What about you? Any goals you want to achieve before the year is over?