This trip, I did something different. Instead of starting another ill-fated travel journal, I posted photos on Instagram. Definitely doing this style of photojournalism again. Take a scroll (get it?) through and re-live our trip.
Runes, Thieves & Sapphires
They say that the best advice you can give a writer is to tell them to read. So, I've been frequenting the library these last two weeks, looking for comparable plots or genres to my story. Clariel, by Garth Nix, Scarlet, by A.C. Gaughen, and The Queen of the Tearling, by Ericka Johansen—each of these 3 books introduced me to complex characters, clever writing, and deft plot twists. They also taught me how NOT to write...
All In Perspective
It was the first European cathedral I had ever seen.
In Venice, the floors in St. Mark's Basilica are a riotous tapestry of mosaics. Each individual piece is a unique slice of marble, carted long ago on wagons and barges from every marble quarry imaginable.
From the moment you walk in, it's impossible not to follow your feet, tracing the floral, geometric and heavenly designs splayed across the floors of the cathedral. Those poor masons. It dizzied me, thinking of how many hours of labour, aching shoulders, and strained eyes in this dark, cavernous work space it took to produce such artistry.
This Insurmountainable Hill
A Mile-Long Fall
"I can't believe it. That's so dangerous. People fall off there every year. Don't they know it's a mile down?"
That feeling of pure, unfiltered terror—the idea of falling for an entire mile—still echoes faintly in my psyche, every day since I made the decision to quit my job and become a full-time freelance writer.
We're Almost There
A Full-time Freelancer
Five Chapters Left
For the last two months, I've been chugging through each chapter of the manuscript, like some lone hermit determinedly hoeing her way down each weedy, unruly row of her garden. Just when I thought the editing process would never end, I noticed on my tracking spreadsheet that I only have 5 chapters left.
