I go there for two primary purposes: 1) To be with my family, or 2) To get away from my family.
When I go with my family, we waterski, kayak, boat, swim and do all manner of outdoor sports and family bonding type things. (No, those kids are not all mine. Whew. I only have 3)
When I go by myself, it's to write.
The river house is on an island in the Colorado River near Matagorda, Texas. The island only hosts 14 houses, so there is no cable of any kind. No TV, no internet. Heaven.
You have to get to it by cable car (tramway) or by boat. The cable car only holds a few folks at a time:
Below is the view from the cable car:
I call the river house my own Walden Pond.
Now, you remember of course, for a couple of years in the mid 1840's, Henry David Thoreau lived on Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. Being one of those deep thinking types, the writer/philosopher sequestered himself away to ...well brood and write. Transcendental thought doesn't come easy, you know. Well, neither does teen fiction. (It's a joke. Laugh. I'm certainly no Thoreau.)
For the sake of amusement, I will now pictorially compare Thoreau's Walden Pond to mine.
Thoreau's cabin:
My cabin (Psst! Mine has running water and bathrooms. I'll only take roughing it so far):
The old road to Concord:
The old road to my river house (Thoreau did not have Jedi light sabers. Score another point for me):
Placid Walden pond in the Spring:
Placid Colorado River in the Spring:
Honestly, I don't know what I'd do without a retreat that allows me to get away from it all. Not having internet is a huge asset to someone like me who is easily distracted. It's also a gorgeous, natural place to hike around and relax between hammering out chapters.
Starbucks, Panera, the bookstore... None of those places work for me.
Nature works for me.
What works for you? How/where do you go to get away from things so you can focus?
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