What a Diva Will Do to Get A Little Down Time

Jennifer L. Hart for Writers Gone Wild

I hate my birthday. Not because I give a fig about getting older--beats the alternative-- but after it passes my life seems to go into a chaotic tailspin of other birthdays, holidays, relatives, illness, tasks and stress.

And this year I have a fast approaching deadline smack in the middle of it, a book I never planned to write and had to pull out of my hat, or other, darker places, in less than eight months. And it is not going well.

Did you hear the screeching tires? That was the sound of any social life I had coming to a dead stop. And I'm a mom trying to forge a career with a reading addiction that demands tribute. I didn't have much of one to begin with. But in order to write one has to have a life, experiences to draw from to help enrich the prose and craft a decent story. There should be laughter and friends and wine. Lots and lots of wine.

Luckily, I knew this was coming. Not the hard to write portion, but everything else. Like I said, it's a pattern. And to combat all the obligation, the Sanibel Divas have our yearly word orgy, a time devoted to friends and writing. And wine. Lots and lots of wine.

So it's okay if  I go a little bit nuts running around to get everything set up this week because next week we're off to the mountains, to Hidden Lake and the third annual word orgy. And even if everything I planned to do doesn't get done, because I can leave type A me at home, ready to fret at a moment's notice. Because retreat is a time to recharge, to sit with like-minded women and get excited about the stories we are writing again.

And drink wine. Lots and lots of wine.

See you in two weeks!