Bears and Inspiration

I'm alive! This years backpacking trip is one we'll be telling stories about for years. 

Brief excerpt from the hike

Stop at trail head to read the rules of the path. Notice on board says "Beware Bears. All over nighters must have a bear canister."

B: What?! No one said anything about bears.

Me: Didn't you see it on the forestry website? I sent the link to my sister.

B: No! I saw nothing!

Sister: It'll be fine. We probably won't see a bear.

B: We don't have a canister! The bears will know we have food!

Me: My husband rented a bear canister. Just put your food with ours.

Several hours later from the campsite across the path

Unknown camper: Get bear, get. Go on, now. Get. Go AWAY BEAR. GO AWAY!

B: BEAR?!

Brother in law: It'll be fine. We did everything we were supposed to.

B: BEAR?!

Brother in law: We'll post a fireguard.

Sister: Oh no you won't. You have to come to bed to protect me. You can guard from the tent.

One in the morning.

Dog growls.

Brother in law: Get bear, get. GO AWAY NOW!

Needless to say, none of us got much sleep that night. No one actually saw the bear, but my brother in law said he heard something big coming through the underbrush toward us. He's spent considerable time in the wilderness and is an Army Ranger, so I trust his assessment of events.

Also, when we got off the trail a few campers said bears had taken their food. Thank goodness my husband decided to research everything about the trail this time or we might have had our food taken too.

The trip was exhausting, but fun. I would definitely go on another one. Although I might pick an easier route next time as this one nearly caused a revolt. Nothing went as planned, and unfortunately we couldn't complete it because some of the trail was closed due to erosion.

Bonus: I got a great idea for a scene in a future Broken Lands novel :-) I get inspiration out of the weirdest things.

Whole 30 and writing

I've been hearing a lot lately about this meal plan called Whole 30 that follows a strict set of rules which entail giving up alcohol, sugar (including artificial), grains and dairy. Just typing this makes me ask myself why I would want to do this. Sugar? Ok, I probably need to eat way less of it than I do, but the cravings are going to be a monster. Alcohol? It might affect my social life and make going to bars awkward for a while but totally doable. But grain? Dairy? That's a little tougher and requires me to overhaul a lot of what I eat. Dairy or grain is in almost every meal.

This will definitely be a challenge but oddly enough I'm kind of looking forward to it. There are supposed to be a lot of health benefits at the end that might make all this worth it. Today is Day 1 of the plan so we'll see how this works.

To top it all off, I started writing chapter one of the new book. Go me. Most of the day has been spent on meal prep for the week (because this plan requires intensive cooking) and finding time to write between chopping vegetables and fruit.

The first page of any book is always the most difficult for me. Before it is written, my story is full of infinite possibilities. Every written page begins to limit where the story can go based on where it has been. Settling on one beginning and one path is a challenge but one I have to meet head on each and every time I start writing a new book. This book is a sequel so the voice of the character is a little easier to nail down. I have so many ideas right now and can't wait to see which ones bear fruit.

A Not So Lazy Sunday

Ah, Sunday, a day to relax in preparation for the coming week. Maybe for some people, but not for me. I have so many things I need/want to get done today that I doubt I will sit down to relax until about two hours before bedtime. I compromised this morning, though, and took the time to get donuts with my boyfriend. Now, it's after noon and there's not a moment to lose if I want to accomplish even half of what I need to.

On the "To Do" list today:

Finish baking the cake I'm making for Valentine's Day. It's a devil's food cake with raspberry filling and a raspberry sauce on top, which is covered with chocolate ganache. Sounds delicious? Oh, it will be. It's also very time consuming to make. The cake itself isn't too difficult, but the filling and topping complicate things. You have to puree the raspberries and then strain the seeds out. Then you have to cook it with sugar in a saucepan until it thickens. Then you have to repeat the steps to make the sauce for the top, only this time it doesn't have to be as thick. It can also be quite messy, which is why my kitchen kind of looks like a murder scene right now 0_o.

Clean. Especially the kitchen. See above as to why.

Do laundry so I have something to wear next week.

Write blog.

More editing in current book. I'd like to get this draft done before the edits from Pathfinder's Way come back, and I have to switch my focus back to that.

Work on cover for Pathfinder's Way again. Lucky for me, I know a graphic designer who can help fix the rough spots.

Prep work for week's meals. This way I don't binge on fast food, and I have a semi decent chance of eating something healthy.

Edit photos for the tea tasting my friend would like to post on her blog.

Oh yeah, and celebrate Valentine's Day with my boyfriend.


0_0 Busy. Busy. Busy!