Wine, Women and Adventures at Arrington Vineyards November 1, 2010

October was a month where I took some time to play and explore my world. Sure, I had to work on getting requested materials out to people. I also had to judge six contest entries for Southern Magic. And I continued working on  my WIP in discovery while I learned more about social media and critiqued my other writing friends’ manuscript pages. But I also made time to play.

How could I resist playing when the skies were so blue and the weather was absolutely perfect? I couldn’t! And one thing I really wanted to do was find a winery where the wine wasn’t mashed out of muscadine (read sweet) grapes. I miss my Northern Virginia wineries at this time of year. It was time to venture out and find one that met my needs for good wine, excellent views, and fabulous setting.

At the entrance leading up to the winery.

I found one. A friend had recently told me about Arrington Vineyards, located in Tennessee near Nashville. I began investigating the vineyard online. The winery is owned by Kix Brooks of the Brooks & Dunn Country Duo. The website does a fabulous job of describing the history, the location, and the ideas behind starting this vineyard so I won’t reiterate the details.

The website enticed me. The winery has real wines like Syrahs, Cabernets, Chardonnays and more. Oh, be-still my wine-loving heart. The distance looked manageable from Madison, AL. Only an hour and forty minutes. So when I learned that my husband was golfing on Friday, I called up his golf buddy’s spouse and asked if she’d like to head out on an adventure with me.

She said yes. I promised a yummy crock pot meal afterward at our place for all four of us when we returned from our daylong adventures. She made everyone picnic sandwiches (golfers had their lunch and we had ours) and the day unfolded just as I had hoped.

The wine-tasting building. So pretty!

No longer trusting Tom Tom completely and not wanting to introduce Garmin into the mixture, I printed off a map to the winery. I picked up my friend in Meridianville and we up to Tennessee from her house. The trees were in full color, the skies were clear and bright, and the conversation was non-stop. The time flew by and we arrived at the winery with an appetite for tasting wine and enjoying the beautiful setting.

Great view of the vineyard.

Many wines to try and buy!

Cute house with autumn decorations.

Plenty of places to sit and visit with friends.

We tasted 7 different wines. We fell in love with four of them. After purchasing a bottle for our lunch (no we didn’t finish it LOL), we sat in the sunshine and enjoyed a leisurely lunch. Again, more chatter and a walk afterward to take pictures of the beautiful scenery. We stayed over two hours. I think we could have stayed longer, but we had an hour plus drive ahead of us so off we went. But we’ll be heading back again. And I will continue to look for places like Arrington to visit in the future. After all, if I don’t take time to play and discover new places, I may run out of things to write about!

Want to stomp some grapes with me?

More breathtaking views

If you live near Nashville, I highly recommend going to Arrington Vineyards. Who knows? You might even run into Kix Brooks on the deck!

The National Conference, RWA & Romance Writers Rock May 7, 2010

Last week Nashville, TN and other parts of Middle Tennessee were deluged with rains that caused the rivers and creek beds to swell with water. The water rose above the levy and flooded much of downtown Nashville and one of my favorite spots, the Opryland Hotel area. Along with Opryland Hotel, the area hosts Opryland Mills Shopping Outlet, the Grand Ole Opry and more. This is a Star Jewel in the area that draws thousands of people to it on a regular basis. Watching the area become flooded and seeing the devastation to the Opryland Hotel was heartbreaking.

I lived in Tennessee for 14 years. My daughter was born in Knoxville, TN. And I have dear friends who moved to Nashville 14 years ago when my daughter was a year old. I’ve sipped chardonnay in the Opryland Hotel, enjoyed lunch at one of its many fine restaurants, and I’ve attended concerts, shows and my friend’s son’s graduation last year at the Grand Old Opry. So I was super excited when I learned the National Conference would be held in Nashville.

But Mother Nature had a different plan forcing our RWA Board to look for another venue for our National Conference. Yet, in all the scrambling to save our “party,” the RWA Board and the Romance Writers of America membership also focused on how to help Nashville overcome this flooding and devastation. RWA has posted links to help with Flood Relief. Other members are holding auctions on their blog sites to help raise funds for Nashville, and the RWA is donating part of the money they’ll receive for the Literacy Book signing to the Nashville area despite having to relocate to Orlando for the conference.

I love my organization. Not only are they capable and smart. They are caring and giving. Being a member of the RWA has enriched my life as a writer and as a human being. We come together in small ways to help and in large ways to help as well.

So here’s a big wave from Alabama to my RWA Board and the writers who belong to RWA. You all rock!

Want to help? Here are some blog sites and places you can go to to participate:

Do the Write Thing

Flood Relief

Red Cross

Do the Write Thing

Taking Time to be with Family December 27, 2008

Now that Christmas has come and gone, I’ve enjoyed spending time with my family. Christmas morning came a bit too early, but we survived and I had a huge nap afterward. We’ve enjoyed watching our new movies, playing our new games on the Wii and trying out the Wii Fit package. Turns out I have horrible balance from sitting cross legged at a desk. No surprise considering the hours I spend in front of the computer.

We’ve hosted guests, a few too many, but still had fun. And I’ve managed to write a few times. Today we are heading to Nashville to see the Rockettes Show and spend the night there. So there will be no writing today or tomorrow. But that is okay. Everyone needs a break, including me.

I made up my mind about the BIAW course. It’s not possible right now. I don’t want to take away from the book I am revising, and the timing of this BIAW course overlaps my work. I need a break and a chance to refresh myself before I start a new one. At least I KNOW what I want to write and the target market. That’s a step in the right direction.

I’ve learned a lot about myself as a writer through doing the Golden Heart and attempting a tiny amount of writing every day. One very positive outcome is the knowledge that if I go back to work so my kid can go to college, I can still write an hour a day and get quite a lot accomplished. It might take me longer to finish a book, but I can still finish one. Sometimes baby steps are better than no steps at all. Writing isn’t an all or nothing proposition for me anymore. At one point, I had considered quitting altogether if I am not published by the time I am 50, but now I don’t feel that way.

It would kill me not to write my stories, even if the only people who read them are judges for writing contests and my critique group.

I hope I always feel that way.

The Week Slips Away December 18, 2008

Everything was fine until I got the call from my daughter about her hand–oops! Tripped over her two left feet, landed funny on her hand, and off to the doctor we went. Wednesday we went to the orthopedist to have it examined… well anyone who’s been to an ortho’s office knows that is tpically a 2-3 hour wait and exam time. And it was exactly 2 hours! Then lunch, then home, then homework, then cook, then well… no writing on Wednesday at all.

Today I went to Nashville and managed zip in front of the computer till now. And there won’t be real writing until tomorrow. Got goodies to make, a party to plan, and shopping/cooking to do for the party. Oh, and somewhere in there I must clean. Thank God I don’t have a job I have to drive into on a regular basis. Otherwise, I’d accomplish none of the above.

Tomorrow–1 hour! I promise myself.