Sunday, March 8, 2009

Hiking

The weather turned glorious this weekend, too glorious to stay inside. Yesterday afternoon and this afternoon both I went out to Clear Creek and did some hiking on the watershed trails, several miles both days, up steep ridges where the wind blows constantly through the treetops. I am so very, very sore now, and I have a huge purple bruise on my right leg where I tripped and fell on a root, but I had a great time. I love hiking. I love the silence, the solitude, the exercise, the time to think without any distractions at all.

Mostly I thought about my new writing project. I was going to get back in to Charmed Circle, but I just can't whip up the enthusiasm right now. I need something totally new. I decided to revisit the world I invented for The Price of Justice (formerly Hilda and Justice), and I've been turning ideas over for a few days now. I have the two main characters figured out, and I know more or less what they want and a little bit about what they're going to do. One of the things they're going to do is walk from the town of Simminee Soo to the as-yet-unnamed capitol city of the as-yet-unnamed country, following a river upstream through mountainous countryside. So I guess you could say my hiking was actually a research trip.

I still haven't finished the time travel story. I am flat out embarrassed about this. So okay, no work on the new project until I finish the time travel story! I mean, it's almost finished--basically I just have to write the denouement, but I've lost all interest in it. I will finish it tomorrow, and then I'll have all the fun of worldbuilding and idea-coming-up-withing for the new project.

8 comments:

Richard said...

Come on; it's a *time travel story*. Just write in a note that you need to remind yourself to go back to this point in time and finish it, then move on. That *always* works.

Jameson T. Caine said...

I love hiking for the same reasons you listed. Unfortunately, my wife's pinched disk and nerve problems keep her from enjoying it like I do, so I have not been on a hike in some time.

Aaron Polson said...

I love hiking, too. Unfortunately, the best hiking is at least four hours away.

We are headed for the Smokey Mountains this summer...

K.C. Shaw said...

Lertulo--Hey, it worked for Bill and Ted! Maybe it would work for me too!

Jameson--I hadn't really been hiking in years, mostly because my dog had not been up to it for a long time. Now that he's gone, though, I don't have to feel guilty about hiking without him. I do miss having him along, though.

Aaron--Oh, cool! What part of the Smokies? If you're coming to East Tennessee, you can stop by and visit!

Jamie Eyberg said...

I love hiking. I usually do it with a gun and call it hunting (don't worry, the way I do it the animals are pretty safe), but I love the walk and the way the air tastes different. It is like the senses are heightened. Good luck with your writing this week.

Carrie Harris said...

I love hiking and stuff too, but I always intend to do some great brainstorming and never actually get there. My mind wanders too much.

K.C. Shaw said...

I count mind-wandering time as worldbuilding time as long as I think about the characters or plot or whatever at least tangentially. Sometimes very tangentially.

K.C. Shaw said...

Jamie--sorry, I didn't see your comment earlier! I sometimes think some people feel like they need an excuse to go out and just enjoy wandering around in the woods, so they call it hunting. :)