Writers Retreats

Every year there are thousands of writers retreats available, ranging from a couple of hundred bucks to thousands of dollars for more elaborate surroundings. On a drive up to Bemidji, Minnesota, this weekend, I saw these fishhouses on Lake Mille Lacs, and I thought, now there's a writer's retreat. Nothing but a box on the ice with a hole for catching your dinner. Put yerself out there, and don't let yerself back in 'till the novel's done.

This may be how Stephen King pumps out so much material...or not. Anyhow, perhaps there is something for the writer to learn from the frosty contemplation of ice fisherman, and the icy villages they create on northern lakes each winter.