Home Again... for now

Well, I'm baaaack! For five days. Ha ha.

Yep, I leave for Florida on Thursday. But don't despair - I'm working on lining up some awesome guest posts to fill your days with brightness while I'm gone.

In the meantime, a couple of you asked for pictures of my trip, so here's a few to give you a taste of Portland. It is so green and beautiful!

Our hotel was on an island in the middle of the Columbia River, how cool is that? (A very big island) This is Mt. Hood, and one side of the river, as we were getting off the freeway to go to our hotel.
This is Mt. St. Helen's (sorry, taken again from my car). I was obsessed with this volcano as a child, so it was fun to see it in person again. We were going to drive to it, but Son A got really upset and didn't want to. (He was afraid it would erupt.) Oh well.

The Columbia River on our drive home.

The whole place is just gorgeous! (Yep, another picture taken from the car. We couldn't stop because Son B took a lot of his naps in the car and stopping = him waking up = not good.)

I love travelling, how about you? That's something I love about books. They can take you places you've never been--real or imagined. They can be an escape from real life, or from where you are at the moment. That can be truly physically and emotionally. Writing, for me, is often the best form of escape. I can dive into the lives of my characters, into their settings and emotions, their troubles and their triumphs. When I'm feeling grumpy, my husband will often ask me if I've written anything recently. I'm surprised at how often I realize the times I'm more on edge correlate with having not written anything for a while. I'm not talking about editing, or revising--I mean WRITING. New words, new ideas, moving my characters forward. Speaking of writing, I need to go do some more.

I made it back last night in time to make it to a BBQ with my old writer's group. (Yes, I'm gigantic. And I even took off my heels for this pic. Oh well!) We don't do a big critique group like we used to anymore, but we still get together to see each other, celebrate each other's accomplishments and have a great time. Janette Rallison came late, so she wasn't in the picture, but we were so glad she was in town so we could see her, too! She's too hilarious. So, from left to right back row: Me, Erin, Ally, (Teddy, Erin's little boy), Jamie, Pam, Julie, Carla. Bottom Row: Carolyn and Stacey. I love these ladies. It is so important and fun to have friends who really understand this crazy business. Thanks for a great night ladies!

So tell me, do you have a writer's group or CP? How did you find them? We all met at a writer's conference a year ago. (Some of us knew each other before) Also, do you find writing to be an escape, or is that just me?

Have a great weekend!