I left the beach yesterday afternoon–it was one of those beautiful days, a gorgeous breeze, white caps on the horizon, blue skies with cotton candy clouds–and I’m not gonna lie. I did not want to leave the beach.

But duty called. As in a writing workshop I’d signed on for–and paid in full. With Marietta B. Zacker from the Nancy Gallt Literary Agency. (It was on characters and how they affect story and why characters matter. Mostly.)

And just between us, I was not driving over to that workshop with a cheery heart. My heart was a bit whiny, and my lip might even have been poking out about a mile. All I could think about was how great it would be, sitting in my beach chair, with the clouds and the waves and the breezes. But then I saw a passel of writer friends–and the cotton candy clouds flitted away. And I started listening to Marietta and the breezes blew right past me. I went to lunch at the Dekalb Farmer’s Market with a couple friends and even when I saw the fresh crabs, I didn’t remember to pout. And by the time I had a one-on-one consultation with Marietta, I could not for the life of me recall why I didn’t want to go to that workshop.

The beach, I expect, will still be there when I go down to the sea again. But Marietta Zacker? Best get her while you can. She’s that good.

And P.S. I wrote about how to keep fit as a writer yesterday at the Muffin. Though technically, I didn’t exactly share how to keep fit as much as I asked you to share how you keep fit. But having just returned from the beach, I can say that taking a couple days off did wonders for my aching back. Now if I could just work that sand-and-surf break into my exercise regimen…)