Row80 Sunday Afternoon

The wind has picked up here at Lake Chelan, but it's warm, the netbook has traveled well, and smoke from nearly contained fires in the hills is drifting west and north.

UPDATE for ROW80? Not so much. Packing day. Driving day. Now we are in this comfortable condo for the next five days with friends from long ago. We have the master bedroom with two amazing showers, a king-sized bed so large I feel as if I'm sleeping by myself, while they took the bunk beds in a second bedroom because they wanted us to be comfortable. All I can do is make fish tacos tonight to make up for their hospitality.

WRITING? Yes, this am. Still working on the macro level and outlining. I'm muddling through the latest Writer's Digest WORKBOOK section (in the magazine -- October 2016 and it's not even September!) is on writing conclusions. Gabriela Pereira's article "Crafting a Satisfying Ending" asks us to think of Crisis, Climax, and Closure. Joseph Bates' "Your Plot's Payoff" (also in this section) talks about how to twist the ending and says that "at the beginning of every novel, the author sets the rules for the story and its fictional world."

My ending still feels unfinished. I'm not sure that either one of the two endings I've written -- one happy and one unhappy -- fit those promises to the reader at the beginning. More work needed.

OTHER STUFF DONE? A flurry of articles, public relations work for two different organizations, and social media (yes!) had to be finished before we left. Now for the next 10 days, I'm letting go of all else. Perhaps this little holiday -- at least for those early morning hours when no one else is awake -- can be my writing retreat.

Ruthie: Morning Farewell Breakfast (August 2016)

May the rest of your summer be filled with joy! Check out what others are doing this fair Sunday HERE.