Writer's Update: Squeezing it in
Before I start, I want to share this quote from Wintering, by Katherine May. I think it applies to our creative dry spells as much as to anything.
“We have seasons when we flourish and seasons when the leaves fall from us, revealing our bare bones. Given time, they grow again.”
We all have our winters. Go ahead and rest and retreat for a time.
My big time of retreat from my work is not the actual winter season, but the summer/fall hiking season. I'm not sure I can claim it as quite the same sort of thing, but my time in the mountains and desert is healing and rejuvenating to my creative self as well as the rest of me (as if they were separate things!). So I have been learning to accept that my work gets put aside, and that's okay, though I could manage the timing better (only I don't seem able to, so...).
Okay, so what have I been doing, to make my Wednesday post so late?
1. Writing. Which, in this case, is revising, editing, and polishing. The book is nearing that finished state.
2. Prepping for my next trip, a couple of back-to-back backpacking trips.
3. Trying to get my hiking fitness back after a week sitting in a kayak.
No new submissions, but I have gotten a glimmer of the idea for the next book I'll be drafting this fall, so that's good!
And here's a teaser photo from the kayak trip, to prep you for the first report, which may actually be a while in coming, or might make it by Monday.
The absurd contrast between our trip, paddling at an easy pace and exploring deeply one small area, and the cruise ships that passed us carrying thousands of passengers was striking. No one on our kayak trip wished they were aboard the behemoth.
©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2026
As always, please ask permission to use any photos or text. Link-backs appreciated.
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