I've been invited to stay for a few weeks in the Seattle area with my co-writer LA Witt, so I landed on the 12th November and we've already seen/done quite a few things, like made an expedition out to the Olympic peninsula and checked out the area where Bluewater Bay is located. (Also met wildlife, like a bald eagle, several kinds of deer and lots of ravens and crows). Hurricane Ridge was really cool, too.
We also went to downtown Seattle and spent two productive days writing our respective books at the Seattle Public Library (central) and ended up bantering with them on Twitter. Lori actually finished her Christian book there yesterday and I've still a few chapters to go on my historical, but it's all moving along. We've also met lovely people, like readers and writers, and I'm looking forward to meeting friends in Portland this weekend.
I think I've most overcome my jetlag (the 8-hr time difference scrambled my brain a bit), so I'm almost on "local time" now. The Dude is going to join us for a week on 3 December, and then we'll do some of the local highlights.
Lori took me to Halfprice Books (and they had a 20% off day too), which was cruel. And while driving along on the peninsula, we stopped at a Native American art gallery and I bought an eagle carving. It's actually an eagle catching a salmon, and I asked the lady what the meaning of the salmon is, and she said, "Oh, that's determination." Well, sold. I'll put it up in my study and let it remind me that writing a book can be like swimming upstream with bears fishing for you. So that was apt.
Overall, very much enjoying the change of scenery and the overall Washington State - seems like a lovely place to live.
Today, we're likely staying in and writing. Lori's working on a half-finished book, and I still have a few chapters of the Bird Book. But I'm pretty sure I'll wrap the whole thing before the end of the month. I did some really good, very emotional scenes and I'm definitely on the home stretch (the last 5-10%). Just need to get from about 20 July 1944 to where the book ends, which isn't much more, time-wise. It'll just be intense.
We also went to downtown Seattle and spent two productive days writing our respective books at the Seattle Public Library (central) and ended up bantering with them on Twitter. Lori actually finished her Christian book there yesterday and I've still a few chapters to go on my historical, but it's all moving along. We've also met lovely people, like readers and writers, and I'm looking forward to meeting friends in Portland this weekend.
I think I've most overcome my jetlag (the 8-hr time difference scrambled my brain a bit), so I'm almost on "local time" now. The Dude is going to join us for a week on 3 December, and then we'll do some of the local highlights.
Lori took me to Halfprice Books (and they had a 20% off day too), which was cruel. And while driving along on the peninsula, we stopped at a Native American art gallery and I bought an eagle carving. It's actually an eagle catching a salmon, and I asked the lady what the meaning of the salmon is, and she said, "Oh, that's determination." Well, sold. I'll put it up in my study and let it remind me that writing a book can be like swimming upstream with bears fishing for you. So that was apt.
Overall, very much enjoying the change of scenery and the overall Washington State - seems like a lovely place to live.
Today, we're likely staying in and writing. Lori's working on a half-finished book, and I still have a few chapters of the Bird Book. But I'm pretty sure I'll wrap the whole thing before the end of the month. I did some really good, very emotional scenes and I'm definitely on the home stretch (the last 5-10%). Just need to get from about 20 July 1944 to where the book ends, which isn't much more, time-wise. It'll just be intense.
