Two Years and I'm Back to my Adventures

 In more ways than one, I've returned to doing what I love to do. Through COVID I found my passion for writing had waned in lieu of an effort to stay connected with friends and family through Zoom, Facebook, and Teams. Now as I find myself vaccinated and returning to meeting up with family and friends more regularly and resuming my weekly writer's group, I'm suddenly hit with the desire to write again.

Since early 2020, like many others I found myself isolating in an effort to keep myself, and more importantly, my at-risk family members safe, healthy, and alive. Just day-to-day living was exhausting mentally and physically. The weekly writing meetup I had online with other writers turned into a chat session to just connect with others who had lost the drive to write as well.

After getting vaccinated early last year and boosted, I've been able to take a couple of adventures to Utah and through California and Washington State. This year, I was able to take a weekend adventure to Death Valley. 

Devils Golf Course, Death Valley National Park

Death Valley National Park with family.

Finally, with the return to travel, planning, and dreaming, my drive to write has returned and I'm excited to say I've launched back into a book I started writing over ten years ago and set aside for some unknown reason.

Seatle Skyline

I find myself now in Montana on a regular basis in a fictional town on a ranch where I get to watch the humor and journey my characters have begun as they make their way through their story.

But I also find myself wanting to write about the adventures I've had in real life. (It's slightly less painful to write about travel when that is once again a possibility.

So I ask myself. Where will I go next? Will I plan to return to Yosemite and spend more than a day just driving through? Perhaps a return to Yellowstone or some other National Park I've seen but missed so much because there simply wasn't enough time to see everything I wanted? Maybe I'll plan a trip to some other National Park I've never visited or some part of the country I've not seen. Maybe I'll even leave the country. 

Olympic National Park

Perhaps I could find myself in Paris, strolling the Champs Elysees or around the Arc de Triomphe. Maybe I could sample some excellent balsamic or parmesan in Modina after having watched the gondolas of Venice before heading off to the Almafi Coast.

Maybe I could once again find myself blown away by the beauty of the Irish coastlines and amazing cliffs. Who knows?

Driving up the California coast around Big Sur.

All I know is I'm back and I'm writing and dreaming again. My once dormant imagination is waking up, looking for a caffeine jolt at my favorite coffee shop. It started with quiet murmurs as I slipped into slumber at the end of the day and slowly grew louder as the days progressed. I found myself thinking about the story I set in Montana. I wanted to check in on the characters to see how they were faring. After seeing how my lead characters Travis and Olivia were doing, laughing at some points, and rewriting a few other points I'm excited to slip back into this story. I can't wait to see what will happen.