Thursday

Thursday morning, 8:30 AM

This is my view as the sun rises behind me, as I sit at the bow of a houseboat on the Sacramento River arm of Lake Shasta (or maybe it’s Shasta Lake; maps and signage are a bit confused on this point).

I sat down to write a post about my trip during my trip, a week ago today, but that's as far as I ever got. Except for this and a little time spent wrapping up and polishing my Remix Revival story, which was due, my houseboat vacation was not a writing vacation, for a number of reasons -- there was no good place to set up a laptop on the boat, very poor cell service and no wifi at all except at the marina, and spending the time focused on friends and reading and basking in nature instead. (Yes, reading. I finished five books in a week. I don't remember the last time I managed that.) But really, given the kind of nature I was surrounded by, who could blame me?

Some creatives are inspired by being out in nature; much as I could wish that were true of me, it's really not. I do my best work either at my own desk or in a cafe, the urban world bustling around me. I've considered whether there's any possible way for me to do such a thing now, in the pandemic times; would sitting masked at an outdoor cafe do the trick? Or would the mask be too much of a distraction? It's hard to say, which is why I haven't tried it yet.

Still, even if it didn't spark a burst of creativity, being out of town, surrounded by nature, and far from the bustle of the world was still a balm to my soul, a much-needed respite. I'm really glad we were able to make it work.