Rehab for writing

I've forgotten how to write.

I don't do retreats. You can't expect me to be silent for ten days - come on now. Retreats are weird. I can't switch off, and when I do it only makes things worse: I come home all anxious and odd.

So I’ve gone on a... I don't know what it is. A break? A work-ation? Writing rehab? I’ve disappeared to a random village in northern Spain for four days. Population: about 40 people and 6 cats.

I felt a lot of guilt about it. Real money, no plan. But I had to leave the house.

Did it work? Sort of.

I got distracted. I indulged in too many riffy posts, and too much cheesecake (they serve it for breakfast - you really expect me to pass that up?). The owner of the one and only bar invited/demanded me to be a guest at an impromptu street BBQ at 11pm on a Tuesday.

But the words came back. Via laptop, notepad, and restaurant napkins, from time to time they flowed. I cant really say when or how or why. Which is frustrating, but in a strange way also reassuring.

P.S. It was also the first time I'd driven a car in three years. An experience - especially on the Cantabrian mountain roads.