Ever since my agent sister Debbi Michiko Florence posted pictures from her experience at the inaugural Harlaxton Kidlit Retreat hosted by our friend best-selling young adult author Kristy Boyce, I was very eager to take part in this retreat myself! So, at the beginning of this year, I booked my spot in the retreat. 2024 is just flying by, and I can’t believe summer has come and gone!

Last time I was in England was 2019, so this was a great excuse to return to the UK! For 6 days, I got to stay at Harlaxton Manor. There’s a whole Wikipedia page for anyone interested in going down the rabbit hole of the manor’s history. To make a long story short, it was built by a nobleman named Gregory Gregory (yes, that is really his name!), and is currently owned by University of Evansville. I loved exploring the manor, admiring the architecture, and getting good laughs over seeing my boyfriend’s name everywhere I go.

It was such a joy to write in such gorgeous surroundings every day, and switch up my location. I could write in the haunted library, the gardens, conservatory, ballrooms, wherever I wanted! I felt like I was in the castle from Beauty and the Beast. All my novels feature a castle in some shape or form, so it was a treat to be able to immerse myself in the experiencing of staying in one for a writing retreat. I liked pretending this was my home for nearly a week.

Every day, on top of our writing time, we had optional activities and excursions that we could take part in. These included:

• Afternoon Tea
• Playing croquet
• Garden tour
• Pub tour (we visited 3 pubs and had dinner in one called Chequers Inn),
• Visiting Belvoir Castle (pronounced “Beaver,” because the British hate the French lol)
• Attending Kristy’s reading and signing of her book Hot British Boyfriend. Fun fact, the fictional school Emberton in her book is inspired by Harlaxton!
• Day trip to York
• Banquet to end the retreat

I completed revising an updated outline for a new novel, and sent it back to my agent before the end of the retreat. Mission accomplished!

Harlaxton felt so magical. I’m honestly a city girl, but I loved living in the manor in the English countryside so much, it actually felt jarring once I was back in a city like York and London. Not complaining. Kristy did such a phenomenal job creating a memorable writing retreat experience! It’s going to be hard to top a retreat where I get to write in a fairytale castle!

After the retreat, I took off to London, and enjoyed a few days there before catching the Eurostar train to Paris.

Taking the magic of Harlaxton back home with me and continuing to work on my new novel!