Enjoy the unforseen experience of a secluded winter season - Check!

Write a new novel - Check!

Create deeper bonds with loved ones, family and friends - Check!  (Though despite putting 14,000 miles on the convertible since leaving Charlotte, we sadly didn't get to each and everyone we would have liked.)

Wander to new places and experience them in UnTourist style - Check!  (The tickets to Nicaragua are booked.)

That's right.  83,000 and a couple hundred words later, I am declaring the winter writing retreat a success, and in a multi-faceted definition of the word.  Word count is one measure, but beyond that I am proud of the story, excited by its potential, amazed by how it came together, and have a new confidence as to what can be accomplished.  And in law of attraction style, even more has come out of the experience.  While I maintained a positive focus on writing, two of my essay pieces were accepted for publication into anthologies (stay tuned for details as they become available for sale).  After a winter of applications, FASFA forms, and hauling her for college visits, my Chicago niece, Ashley, has been accepted to college.  My sister-in-law has received prestigous recognition for her research.  Our laid off friends in Chicago have started their own creative business.  Our Carlesco side of the family (from Syracuse to Maestre, Italy) came together in magical ways to support each other through a death in the family.  My parents got to enjoy their retirement in Southern warmth.  My hope is that the better it gets, the better it gets: for us all.

So we're off for more wandering, with a starting point of Managua, Nicaragua with an average April daytime temperature of around 95 degrees.  We fly out April 15, figuring tax day an appropriate jumping point and leaving ourselves two weeks to whittle down our five milk crates worth of stuff to one backpack.