Writer's Retreat

Riverview Hotel, St. Marys, Georgia

A brief getaway to a quiet place along the river beckoned me—not too far from home—on a cold January morning. I came to focus on The Matriarch’s Legacy: to fine-tune, to listen more closely, and to allow the story to grow into another dimension. For a few days, I set things down. Responsibilities waited elsewhere.

I discovered a charming old hotel where other writers had once found sanctuary and inspiration. Wrapped within the walls of this old gem, I found myself steeped in the room once visited by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings in 1931. It was very girlish, inviting, and quietly self-contained—no doubt a space that welcomed imagination and made room for words to arrive. Fate, it seemed, had a hand in landing me there.

From the wee hours of the morning and throughout the day, ideas spilled onto the page without hesitation. The quiet of winter days along the riverside lent itself to smoother lines, clearer turns of thought. There was no need to rush or second-guess. The stillness did its work.

Long writing sessions earned long walks through town. Sunlight sparkled across the river, lightening the weariness from my thoughts. Each walk cleared space, allowing me to return—willingly and gladly—to the cozy comfort of that room, where the work waited patiently to be taken up again.

Some places do that. They hold you just long enough to remind you why you came.