This past weekend I went to the Washington Romance Writer’s Retreat in the beautiful mountains of West Virginia. 
I flew into Dulles and was picked up by a wonderful WRW member who drove me and agent Jenny Bent to the hotel. In rush hour traffic which took over an hour but felt much longer. My eternal gratitude to Liz Lincoln for waiting as MY suitcase was the last to come off the
conveyor belt. I knew better than to warn Jenny before hand I have no luck traveling. I’m either stuck in airports for a minimum of eight hours or they don’t get my suitcase onto the plane in time. This wasn’t too bad considering and it explains why poor Robin Allen who was nice enough to drive us on the return airport trip missed the exit to the airport. She had ME in the passenger seat.
Now back to the weekend. As beautiful as the hotel is outside, that’s how old and decrepit it was inside. Yet the staff was brimming with happiness and gratitude to have us there and I appreciated all they did to make our stay comfortable. I now understand why the members rush to get their applications in and not be shut out of this retreat and why the editors and agents beg to come back year after year. 
But the fact remains, rustic is an understatement when describing the accommodations.
So this weekend, I learned a few things about myself and my ability to cope and I think I survived quite well. If nothing else, I am sure I provided Jenny with many laughs. She (who is spiderphobic did the same for me).
What I learned:
I cannot shower in ice cold water but even without showering for an entire weekend, I can still smell good if I bring a bottle of Bath and Body works shower gel and scrub liberally, while standing outside the tub and rinsing limb by limb.
I can never touch the stained, carpeted floor of the hotel room if I wear pajama pants, socks and my every day black shoes. 
Even to bed.
I can skip washing my hair for one day if the water’s just too cold, but by eleven that night I’m going to have to suck it up, hang my itchy head upside down and wash my hair under the trickling and I do mean trickling cold shower water. I used up an entire mini bottle of shampoo on that one washing.
I can survive without Internet, TV, incoming phone calls from family, and the most basic news as long as I have my laptop as a security blanket 
and Neil Diamond on iTunes to listen to while sitting on the sheet I brought from home.
I can wake up without an alarm clock for a 7:30 AM scrapbooking for writers class by keeping the window shades open (couldn’t bring myself to touch them) and the bathroom light on all night long.
I can do a keynote speech (that’s Digger 
I don’t leave home without him – in the center piece baskets) and not pass out cold from sheer nerves and fear if I go before the ever talented, classy luncheon speaker, Ruth Ryan Langan, and the hysterically funny and lovely dinner speaker, Sabrina Jeffries. I thanked the coordinators of the conference for allowing me to speak first and not suffer the paralyzing knowledge that I could never ever follow such class acts.
I can go to a conference without another plotmonkey there for support and live to tell about it!
What I Discovered … which is far different from “What I learned”.
The WRW Chapter is the most warm, welcoming group of people I have ever come across. For whatever reason they wanted Me as their keynote,
I thank them from the bottom of my heart. I’ve never enjoyed a weekend more.
Turn the Page Bookstore in Boonsboro, MD, owned by Nora Roberts’ husband Bruce is a gem of a place and they run a signing for almost a dozen authors including mega star Nora Roberts for hundreds of people and somehow keep things sane and moving. I had a fantastic time.
If you write it, they will come … and bring cookies. 
At least they bring cookies to Donna Kauffman and she’s generous enough to share.
I’m grateful to be published. I’m grateful to meet new and interesting people all the time, readers and writers alike. And I can survive a “rustic” weekend and still say it was the experience of a lifetime.
I’m sure many of you have had your share of vacation traumas but the best ones are those (like mine) when you can say ::gulp:: I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
And I would.
But the fact remains, there’s no place like home and here’s a picture of my newly decorated office to prove it! 
I’m back … and I’m glad!
Carly Phillips would like to take 100% credit for all her stories but the truth is, Carly’s strength is writing family, emotion, funky elderly people and animals. She couldn’t plot her way out of a paper bag, which is why she smartly found her plotmonkey pals early on in her writing career. Thanks to their support, Carly is now a NYT Bestselling author of 23 plus novels. Because writing doesn’t keep her busy enough, Carly is also a wife, a mother of one preteen and one teenage daughter, the primary care giver of her soft coated Wheaten terrier and an expert carpool mom.
Destiny
Dirty Little Secrets
Once Upon A Valentine
Through The Night
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Karen, since I’m a spoiled traveler, I applaud your resilience! I know that being surrounded by an amazing view and even more amazing people make it all worthwhile. However, I would have liked pictures of you washing your hair in cold, drippy water. It’s probably better that none of the Monkeys were there–we would have egged each other on in our whining, I think!
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Welcome back!! Oh my gosh, I don’t know if I would have survived it. I get very nervous travelling for this reason alone. LOL!! I know some places post pictures of the first day the hotel or resort opened and what you are looking at online is NOT what you see when you open the door to your room. UGH!
I am sure you had some laughs though. I remember one family trip, as a child. We pulled into a hotel in North Conway New Hampshire, a favorite vacation spot for us New Englanders. Now you know all we wanted to do was jump in the pool. Don’t all kids? Well we get to the room and “rustic” would be an upgrade to what this room looked like. There were holes in the bedspread, rust in the tub and bugs flying around our heads. But we still just wanted to get to the pool. Bathing suits on we ran to the pool only to stop short at the edge. The water was SWAMP GREEN!!!!
Needless to say, even as a child I just wanted to sleep in the car. LOL!
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You are a braver soul than me! I need hot water, heat, clean sheets, caffeine and all those other necessities and can’t imagine going without. I’m glad you had fun though. Did you meet Michelle Buonfiglio (columnist for B(u)y the Book? Love her! She really supports the romance community.
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Oops that wasn’t supposed to be a broken heart! It should be ( then “u” then )
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I’ve heard such wonderful things about that retreat, I’ve always wanted to give it a try. You and Jenny and Donna looked great, with or without hot water, lol!
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Carly had me laughing so hard when she was telling me about her trip. She’s so *not* a rustic kind of girl. But, she did good! (y)
And it’s true that the Plotmonkeys try not to travel with Carly. If something is going to go wrong during traveling, it’s going to happen to Carly! :d
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that looks fun.
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Sounds like an interesting trip! Digger is adorable and you look great!
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Carly you did great to survive the rustic side of your trip. You look great in your pictures and one would never know. So glad that you enjoyed yourself, even with the downside, and that you would go back in a heartbeat……… (y)
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Welcome back!! I’m proud of you and your accomplishments!
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Carly, I wish I were already up there because that’s right in the neck of the woods near where I’ll be living! Despite the conditions, it sounds like you had a great time. So sorry I missed it!
Leslie
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Carly, sounds like an interesting experience! :) Glad you survived it all okay. Why would they book a place that doesn’t even have hot water & is not clean?! That is more challenge than necessary.
Sounds like camping!!!
:)
Donna M
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Sure glad you had fun .
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Well Carly that sounds like quite an experience! Glad you shared it with us.
I’m not a great traveler myself. My husband says I’m a bit “high maintenance”, I say that I’m just a nervous traveler who prefers to be in her own surroundings.
I’m happy for you that it turned out so well all things considering. Glad to have you back. :)
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Thanks for the fun replies. It really was a hoot. Lots of (b) which I don’t do; lots of yummy (^) which I do do, and I won raffle prizes! (g) Yes I met Michelle Buonfiglio. What a sweetheart. She’s SO cute! :d Les, if you go one year, I’ll room with you! It’s such a small hotel, you need a roommate. Jill, you’d (l) it there. You should definitely go on year but you have to be a member. Well worth joining. Especially if you like roughing it, LOL.
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Carly, I was one of the lucky people that had the pleasure of meeting you and I can tell you it made my day, week, month, etc.
Beth