Sorry.

I love you. Each one of you.

But. It’s not my fault. Let me explain.

Yesterday I attended the Midwest Women Who Write nonprofit’s quarterly, half-day writing retreat. Before I did, I thought “writing retreat” sounded a little … grandiose. In my mind a writing retreat involves tiny cabins in the woods by a lake for at least a weekend, usually expensive and far away.

Writing news stories and features articles for daily newspapers and working as a trade-magazine editor/writer — all on deadline — was intense and always challenging. I also worked for years as a copy editor (writing headlines and editing reporters’ stories), news editor (I supervised the copy desk) and city editor (I supervised the reporters).