Thursday, July 24, 2008

The Minnesota Twins and me

I don't mean to hurt anyone's feelings, but from what I can tell, Cleveland, Ohio doesn't have much going for it besides the Indians. Right now I'm blogging at you from a room in the downtown Hilton overlooking Jacobs Field, or whatever they're calling it these days. (I just got up to check. According to the big blue sign out front, it's Progressive Field.)

Three big luxury buses are currently parked in front of the hotel. It appears that the Minnesota Twins are staying here, too. They're scheduled to play the Indians tomorrow evening, and if anyone out there is stalking me and needs this information, I'll be at the game with my hunk o' burnin' love.

I opted to tag along on this business trip because I love writing in hotel rooms. There's just something about being away from home, alone in a room where the phone isn't ringing and there's no dishwasher to be loaded. Sometimes I listen to music, but most often I turn on the fan to make some cozy white noise and then write for hours, interrupting the flow only when it becomes necessary to make a Starbucks run.

Maybe I'm not being fair to Cleveland. Maybe there's a lot to see and do in this city. But I'm not going to find out on this trip because I'm enjoying a writing retreat.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

As somebody who grew up a stone's throw from Cleveland (in Erie) I will tell you that...you are being fair to Cleveland. You notice I don't live there anymore. There isn't a whole lot going on there - and you are catching it at the best time of the year. Be happy you are not there in January. Yuck!

A hotel room sounds like a great place to write to me. What else are you going to do there? Enjoy it!

Brenda Coulter said...

What else are you going to do there?

Nothing. I really did come here to write--and it's going pretty well.

Anonymous said...

Okay, that just sounds great! I think I might try getting a hotel room for a night, just to give it a try. My problem is I like the ones with jetted tubs, and you just can't take a notebook, spiral or electronic, in the tup with you.

Although, I did take my phone in the pool with me once...

Unknown said...

I absolutely love your blog. I haven't had a chance to check out any of your novels and I'm not sure if I will (romance novels are kinda of icky to me)But anyways, I enjoyed all that I read here and added you to my blogroll (since I don't get a chance to read much of the other things I subscribe to in my reader)...well, as you can see I am the quintessential chatterbox!

Thanks again,
Roschelle

Unknown said...

Oh, I did add the link to your blog... of course! How could I not? ;-)

Pilgrim said...

Brenda,
We once intended to spend a long weekend and Cleveland, and left early.
The hotel we stayed in had bloody sheets on the fold-out sofa bed. The guests above us either arrived or left in the middle of the night, with lots of loud conversation in Spanish.

We toured a large freighter sitting in the harbor and had a good dinner.

We had one bad night, and moved on to Amish country.

Brenda Coulter said...

Weston, I recommend the hotel room. The unfamiliar space and isolation might really do it for you. For the tub, try a tape recorder or voice-recognition software like Dragon Naturally Speaking.

Roschelle, thanks for loving my blog and for adding me to your Blogroll. Now if only we could get you to read a romance novel...

Chad, thank you for linking, too.

Julana, all I can say about Cleveland is that the people at Progressive Field know how to put on a beautiful post-game fireworks show. It was just amazing.