Well, another month has passed and things are crazy as usual. Somehow I always seem to be more and more busy between my different interests. I find myself having to give up other hobbies to focus on my career and only one or two other items.
Photography Winding Down
You've probably already noticed that I've not continued my photo of the week series.
I've nearly stopped practicing my photography as of late. Thought this may be a seasonal thing. With the sun setting so early, and being engrossed with my different writing projects in the evenings photography has gotten pushed to the corner. I have started to upload my work to stock photography sites to try and earn a little money on what I have done. And I plan on taking a passive approach to taking new photos. By 'passive' I mean I will just take my camera along with me on little trips and take some pictures if I am inclined and not feel like I have to take amazing photos every day.
Family Olympic Peninsula Trip
With that being said, I did get a few nice pics a week back. We took a little family trip out to the Olympic Peninsula and spent a few days at a small fishing resort in the off season before prices starting going up. On the first day we did a hike out to Shi Shi Beach. Some say that this is the most picturesque spot in the Pacific Northwest, and I agree. It was a two hour hike through occasional rain, heavy winds, and extremely muddy conditions, but it was worth it.
The next day we went down to Forks to get my son some new boots, since his were still soaked in mud from the day before and visited Rialto Beach before heading back north and hiking out to Cape Flattery.
I've got more pictures, but I haven't had a chance yet to edit the rest.
Fiction Workshop
In other news, the fiction workshop group I'm in reviewed the second chapter of Shadows Beneath Us, the horror novel I'm currently working on. The feedback was amazing and, as usual, I came out of the meeting energized to continue working on the story. I do have a ton of improvements to make on that chapter and all following chapters based the feedback received.
From this meeting I learned that I need to focus on maintaining tension. For each scene and detail I need to ask myself if it adds to the tension of the story. I horror story without tension will be lacking.
Finding time to write
Here's what sucks though. Even though I'm all energized to get this writing done, I'm finding myself with less and less time to actually write. Between my day job, making sure I am still up to date with current industry practices, and normal family life, writing time has dwindled. To make up for this I've started to whittle back on my other hobbies (photography, hiking, guitar, etc). Things should start to settle down soon.
Writing Distractions!
It also doesn't help that I keep getting distracted from my main writing project. After the little family trip to the peninsula I want to write a ton of stories set in the gloom of the Olympic Forests. The logging industry has me enamored at the moment. Also, I want to throw together a story for possible entry in a locally published anthology. I am seriously considering setting aside Shadows Beneath Us for a bit to try a couple side projects.
I think this is all will ramble about this month. I hope it was of interest to you. I will report back next month! Bye!