What does “retreat” really mean? Regifting Halloween candy you’ve trick-or-treated for your toddler? Putting a fresh coat of cream cheese frosting on your yellow squash cupcakes because your toddler licked it all off while you were on the phone, looking out a window, your back to the kitchen?

I think not.

Retreat means: Housesitting with no Internet connection.

What better time, then, to write and edit and revise my middle-grade novel as I prepare to hunt for a literary agent? I’m looking forward to the experience and will report back Sunday, when the toddler and I will say farewell to cool, invigorating ocean walks and return to our stifling and enormous desert valley for what I hope will be the onset of an early Fall. Until then, here’s to the vigilance of some muses and the thrill of the extremely important grind that is editing, editing, editing. (While I’m away, feel free to visit Bigfoot–he/she’s perfect for a writing break and a freaky jaunt into imagination.)