LadyLee Retreats, Part I: Getting There

Last weekend, I went on my first ever retreat!

Now the big thing about me is this: I rarely go anywhere outside of work or home. As a matter of fact, I haven’t even taken a vacation as an adult. Oh, I have traveled, but it was always on someone else’s dime and not my own, which means I was off somewhere to some chemistry conference, and while there, I better take in some of the sights.

But I have never, as an adult, said, “Gee, let me pull some cash out of my own pocket and use it to go somewhere…"

The HORROR!

Hey, I’m all about the reimbursements and per diems, babe!!

Anyway, I went on a retreat with my Book Club sistas to Helen, GA, a big Alpine village up in the Georgia Mountains…

It was quite nice, yes it was…

So I thought I would detail some of my adventures while there.

Getting there. First of all, Helen Georgia is approximately 90 miles from the city of Atlanta, and we had to figure out the logistics of getting there. No one was suppose to ride alone.
Now, I wanted to drive my car. Why? Because I rarely drive my car, and every since I had the new CD Player installed, I’ve wanted to drive my doggone car, and play my music LOUD. I have several CDs with 100+ songs on them, and heck, I want to hear them ALL as loud as possible!

So, needless to say, I knew no one would probably want to ride in my compact Zoom-zoom, which was cool, but the rule was that no one was to ride alone. So, I reluctantly
sent an email out that stated that I was driving and could accommodate one other person.

Now, I get a call from two ladies, one I know and one I don’t know…Both wanting to ride. One said she was having some sinus isshas and was still deciding whether to go, and was having to decide what to do, while the other, who I didn’t know, was going to go ahead and roll with me.

Now the young lady I didn’t know seemed nice. Very mannerable on the phone and what not. Her english was good, not all ebonically inclined like my own, and I figured I would have to come up with my good educated english during this ride, LOL. I know a lot of faces at the book club, but not many names, so I was wondering who she was. I thought I’d probably recognize her when I saw her. I personally was looking forward to meeting her, because lately, whenever I meet someone new, they usually solve some type of issue I'm struggling with.

Okay, didn't mean to go to deep on you... back to the story.

Well, we were to leave that Friday afternoon for the retreat. Now, I do some odd stuff before I leave on a trip, whether it be overnight across town or something longer. I like to wash up EVERYTHING in the house-clothes, linen, etc.- and I like to thoroughly clean my house. I like to pack and unpack at least three times. My poor cat, Oscar-Tyrone, just stood in a corner watching me in all my obsessive compulsiveness.

So after cleaning and packing for several hours, I was bone tired.

There were suppose to be three folks in my Zoom-zoom, which was gonna be a bit TIGHT, to say the least, but we could do it. Well, I went to pick up the lady that I didn’t know, and when I got there, it turned out that we both had a whole lot of stuff… In particular, she had a WHOLE suitcase full of books. A HEAVY ass suitcase at that, and I am thinking to myself “How the heck is she gonna read ALL these damn books in two days?”

Well, I wasn’t gonna ask. If I don’t know you, I don’t shuck and jive with you. I probably won’t even talk to you.

My biggest concern was that she would object to me playing my music. I wasn’t gonna play it loud, but I did not want to hear “Hey LadyLee, I like jazz. Can we play some jazz?”

*LadyLee hurling herself out of the window at the thought of playing some slow ass jazz in her zoom-zoom*.

And she was diva-down... I'm talking full make-up, dressed nice. Cute, casual, and comfy, but all in all, dressed nice.

I had on the usual: t-shirt, sweats, and sneakers.

Had visions of going to the retreat, walking in and er'body diva-down.

Humph. Like Mary J. Blige says... Take me as I am. They would have to be alright. All I brought was sweats and jeans and that was all I was wearing...

I digress...

Anyway, we get settled in, and head for the interstate.

We were just driving… just chilling… I called the other young lady I was supposed to pick up and told her that we had entirely too much stuff, but we would hook up with her and see if we could squeeze everything in. She opted to drive her own car, a PHAT Infiniti, and trail us up to the retreat. (She followed me, not the other way around. I didn't think my zoom-zoom could keep up with her sports car. This ain't the Fast and the Furious!)

Now my book club sisters know me to be unusually quiet. Some of them read my blog, and are now like “Yeah right, LadyLee ain’t all THAT quiet.” I'm silent around them. It’s just that they be dropping so much knowledge that I have to sit still and be quiet and listen so I won’t miss anything.

So I decided to do something different. I asked Dwan Abrams, the young lady riding with me, a question.

“So, uh, how long have you been in the bookclub?”

Oh, I’m not in the book club. I’m an author. I write full-time. I'm currently working on my second book.”

*big giant crickets*

*Ladylee resisting the urge to slam hard on the brakes in the middle of the jam packed interstate*

“Oh,” I finally said. “What kind of books do you write?”

“I’m currently working on a romantic suspense. I have written Inspirational and Romance also.”

*LadyLee ears getting hot, heart beating faster, face flushing red*

*LadyLee QUICKLY turns the CD player waaaay down and seriously contemplating yanking it out the dash and throwing it out the window*

Now, ya’ll KNOW I am working on a manuscript right now. I am almost done. My manuscript happens to be romance (I DETEST romance), but has turned into a romantic suspense, which is fine by me. I have a bit of technical writing experience but not much creative writing experience. So when I meet a writer, I take the opportunity to ask a whole BUNCH of questions. When I hung out with my favorite author Tayari Jones a couple months ago, I asked a zillion questions concerning my trouble areas. I mean, it ain’t everyday that I actually get a chance to sit down and have a talk with a published author about the craft of writing.

So, um, don’t think that I didn’t do the same thing here.

Man…

I picked that poor woman’s brain like a slave picks the cotton… I asked about everything: about how she researched her characters, her methods of writing, her methods of character development, her experience with editors…. I asked EVERY possible question I’d been whining to myself about for the past couple of weeks, and she answered each and every question I had. And even offered a good amount of advice. I mean, she unraveled some craziness I am dealing with right now in my writing.

Um, let’s just say, I didn’t really have to go to the retreat after that.

Shoot, we could’ve turned my zoom-zoom around and headed back to Atlanta.

I was refreshed and renewed…

And ready to write.

And you know what was interesting? One of the male characters in her next book is a chemist. So she asked me a bunch of questions about a chemist’s personality, and I broke a few things down to her.

Let’s just say that the two hour trip to the north Georgia mountains felt more like a 10 minute trip to the store or something. LOL!!

So I was all smiles by the time we got to our cabins.

When we got there, someone asked me, “So, how was the drive up, LadyLee?”

I was like, “Man, I rode with an author!! I know she’s tired of me because I yacked a lot! I don’t know who set that up, but thank ya’ll for that!”

Anyway, I was all geeked, to say the least...

Now as for the retreat itself?

That was a whole nother story...

They were running around there screaming...

"What happens in Helen stays in Helen!!"

But you know your Oldgirl...

I had my camera and all, so you know...

to be continued...