Hello, again from Oistins, Barbados! Today I visited the ocean; ashamed to say it’s taken me over two days to do that. However, it is a 15-minute, not-obvious walk from my lodging, so I hope Lord Neptune will cut me some slack. (Fun fact: Barbados’s flag features the trident! The only flag in the world to do so.)
Walk to the Ocean
It’s the second day of the Wayward Wormhole writing retreat, offered by Cat Rambo’s Academy for Wayward Writers. And it turned out to be a free day for my pod (I think I’ll call my critique group a “pod” in honor of dolphins). I managed to sleep in a little, which is actually not the best idea if you want to walk someplace (ideally wimps such as myself are done with all exercise in the sunshine by 10:00 AM). But I managed a visit to the ocean with good ole Google Maps showing me the way, and it was relaxing as ever, even for a short visit.
Island Time
I had dinner last night at a well-known local music spot, The Sage Bar and Stage. It’s a leisurely place with cool décor, outdoor seating, and live music. But I was quite peopled out by the end of the evening. I think we (meaning my roomie) will be cooking at home more in the future. It’s just cozier that way!
Writing Time
I’m back on the breezy front porch now, and my pod mates and I have shared our mind map projects with each other for discussion tomorrow.
The roomie and I are about to stock up on groceries, utilizing the local ride sharing service PickUp Barbados. The store is a little too far away, especially carrying bags, and it’s too hot for walking right now, anyway.
My later plans include nap, looking over the other people’s mind maps, and—speaking of maps—creating a paper map of the neighborhood for myself, since Google maps kept losing its signal this morning while I was walking around. (Annoying. But, first world problem, really! Easily solved.)
Tomorrow is mind map discussion day, and we get to have açai bowls for lunch again from Epic Surf Café, which is right next to the workshop venue.
Meanwhile, enjoy yourself with my latest novel, The Talking Cure.
“The Talking Cure is a marvelous story—an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery infused with a strong sense of the Weird… and a hearty dose of magic on the side. It’s ideal for all fans of the sinister, the surprising, and the strange.”
—Cherie Priest, award-winning author of Boneshaker
Find The Talking Cure at these fine locations:
Left Bank Books in St. Louis
Do you always wish you had a paper map along? Comment on the blog.
If you enjoyed this blog, you might like to read a guest post about a M/M underseas romantic adventure by M. D. Neu.
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Wolfhearted is also available as an Audible audiobook, here.
Earlier this year, St. Louis Writers Guild published Weird STL, an anthology celebrate the strange, spooky, and just plain wonderful stories of our hometown. This volume of short stories, poems, a play, and essays includes a Sean Joye universe short story, “Big Magick.” Joseph Arwald, one of the baddies from The Big Cinch, tells us what really happened to the Ferris Wheel from the St. Louis 1904 World’s Fair.
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