Well the guide book took a little longer than I wanted it to, but I’m still done before heading out on the coast trip. And I finished the solo trip write up, so that’s another bonus. Between the two goals, I’d say I broke even.

I like what I managed to do with the guide book formatting and presentation. It uses the same template as the Chamberlain guide without being identical. The colors are a little different, and of course, the details are changed. For some reason, I especially like the flower borders. The one on the Queens guide has a huckleberry along with the flowers.

I am satisfied with what I’ve put out, but I haven’t been writing any fiction since I started working on the solo trip. Does that writing even count as writing since it isn’t fiction? It is story telling though. I am trying to tell a story, and it’s a story that I know. It’s a story I enjoy sharing.

One of the things that I read a lot on Dean Wesley Smith’s blog is about not outlining. And I wonder if I am writing from an “outline” of sorts when I write these hiking books, because I have the “outline” of my experience. I look at the photographs that I took to remind me of the events that took place and the order in which they took place.

Like an outline.

So do I find it easier to write the “story” when I know the ending? Sometimes, I’ll think about scenes in stories, imagine them in the shower or while hiking and get a good picture of what I want to write next before I actually write it. But with fiction, I don’t usually know where I’m going. And when I think I know, I’m usually wrong.

And with fiction, I find myself staring at that blank screen more often than not, wondering what comes next.

So I’m going to work on the solo trip book next, which will involve choosing photographs, captioning them, and editing the text now that my husband has reviewed it. I’m going to keep plugging away at writing and publishing. I’m going to keep practicing.

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