A writing vacation

It was not originally intended as a writing vacation -- originally we were going to bring Michael's mom on a trip that we took a few years ago and really loved: Durango and Mesa Verde.  With two foundered horses and a lot of other things going on at her house, though, she just couldn't come.  We came anyway, and I knew from the moment we arrived that it was a good thing I brought my novel.

I haven't worked on my novel for quite some time -- not since I revised a page or two early last week.  Last week was my first week of my summer schedule, which meant five or more hours every day with the kids.  It will take a couple of weeks, but hopefully I will settle into my summer schedule and be able to find time for writing.  If I don't -- well, July (Camp NaNoWriMo) will be a disappointing month.

This week I had off, as the kids are at an all-week music camp.  My husband Michael took the week off as well, and despite my best intentions, I had lots of responsibilities filling up my time.  As a result, I haven't gotten any work done on the novel so far this week, either.

Yesterday, however, we made the drive to Durango.  We are staying at the Strater, where we stayed last time: the hotel where Louis L'Amour stayed every summer, and where he wrote many of his books.  Next time we are going to try to stay in his old room, which has achieved historic landmark status since we were last here.

Even in our non-famous room, it's clear that this will be a great place to get some work done:

And my workstation while we are here:

I love the antiques, of course, and the rest of the hotel is beautiful too.  This time we are only planning on spending one day in Mesa Verde, in order to leave time to relax (and for me to write).  I am looking forward to getting some good work done!