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Andrea Brown’s

WRITERS’ & ARTISTS’ HIDEOUTS:
Great Getaways for Seducing the Muse

How often have you longed for a little “peace and quiet” to release the masterpiece that’s hiding (or bubbling) within you?

To support the creative quest, literary agent Andrea Brown has authored Writers’ & Artists’ Hideouts: Great Getaways for Seducing the Muse (Quill Driver Books/Word Dance Press, Inc., 2005). In this delightful and practical guide, more than 500 venues in 400 U.S. cities (including those in Alaska and Hawaii) are listed by region, with notes on the flavor of each area. Photos complement the text, and are especially inviting.

Brown’s motives for writing this book will resonate with readers: “Many of my most memorable life experiences are times when I left the comforts of home, took off by myself, and escaped to a scenic, peaceful place to do some serious thinking or some serious writing.” Over the years, she carefully compiled a roster of sites that are “as good for the eye as they are for the soul.”

A testimony to America’s diversity, these getaways include everything from knotty pine cabins with skylight to peaceful oceanfront rooms to luxurious big-city suites. Maybe you’d like to bunk at a hostel, ranch, or former governor’s mansion? Don’t forget the unconventional accommodations: lighthouse, boat, old schoolhouse (now an inn); even a museum. Select theme rooms and/or rooms once occupied by famous novelists, entertainers, politicians and luminaries. What a cornucopia!

Writers’ & Artists’ Hideouts also includes essential information for travelers: a price code for each venue (rates range from $19 to $1000 per night); its amenities and number of units; relative location and/or distance to the beach, shopping, restaurants, and public transportation. The book’s pages are sprinkled with details—such as which sites offer a breakfast of homemade muffins, afternoon wine with appetizers, white wicker furniture on a wraparound porch, and (let us not forget) heated toilet seats.

Brown’s book not only enlightens travelers, it reveals astute advice from professionals in the publishing industry. For example, literary agent Michael Larson (Larson-Pomada Literary Agents), author of several books on publishing and of Guerilla Marketing for Writers, offers nearly a full page of time-honored techniques that are “the fastest, easiest way I know of to make your proposal rejection-proof and get the best editor, publisher, and deal for your book.” (Read the entire quote: Writers’ & Artists’ Hideouts, page 46.)

Other tips on craft and sales include this entry: “The best proposals are those that elicit the fewest questions. Why? Because you’ve anticipated and answered them all.” — Jane von Mehren, executive editor, PenguinGroup, from Editors on Editing

Similar gems may be found throughout the book. Here’s a sampling of reflections on the perks of a solo retreat:

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