You get to see things like this when you glance out the window at Frontier Camp, home of the Christian women’s retreat in January or kids’ retreats other times of the year. The place is called Fossil Creek, hence our names, Fossil Creek writers.

Last year, five of us took over cabin space at Fossil Creek. The cabins are stark. The bathrooms are adequate, but bunk beds are the only furniture. Not nice, cute wood-structured bunk beds, but the metal-frame type with springs that squeak every time you move. Get several people sleeping in a room together, and that’s a lot of squeaking. It only keeps you awake the first night.

The cabins are stark, because the point is to get out of the cabin. Go to the lodge and connect with others, or get outside and take a walk around the beautiful grounds. Do something.

For us, of course, the point of going to the lodge is to be connected to Wi-Fi so we can work. And we do work. And laugh. And share.

A great advantage of being with fellow writers is that you have an audience, “Y’all have to hear this!” or immediate help, “Does this sound right?” I got stumped a time or two and sought out advice from the others, and they did the same. We encouraged each other, laughed and cried together—and had some wonderful meals together, which was a definite benefit. All we had to do was write. We attended a twenty minute optional devotional, had breakfast, and went to work (or whatever we wanted to do with our time) until the next meal time. We weren’t responsible for cooking or cleaning up afterward, or anything else for that matter. I could look out the windows and not worry that they were dirty, because they weren’t my responsibility. If sand had been tracked in, making the floor gritty, who cared? Certainly not me! I’d left my housecleaning responsibilities behind for a few glorious days.

If you don’t have a group of writers you can meet with, you’re missing out. And if you don’t have a chance to get away with them for  several days, you’re really missing out. Do a little research and find a reasonably priced place to hold a retreat at. See for yourself what a treasure this concept is.