What's Up Wednesday- Return of the Be-Wilder-Beast

 The Return of the Be-Wilder-Beast

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly blog hop geared toward readers and writers, allowing us to touch base with blog friends and let them know what's up.  Should you wish to join, check out Jaime's or Erin's lovely blogs and sign up with the link widget at the bottom of the post.

WHAT I'M READING

With plane travel and some glorious evening reading on the upper deck of the boat, I got to read a few fun titles while I was away. Unravel Me and Ignite Me were light, fun reads. I reread The Dream Thieves in advance of Blue Lily Blue coming out soon. (Very excited for that one.) And continuing on the bird theme, I read The Aviary which isn't YA, but has some lovely magical realism.

WHAT I'M WRITING

I didn't take my laptop on the trip, which was a painful choice. But the likelihood that it would be smooshed by a minihoonie (I have a bunch of nieces and nephews), dropped in "the drink" or come home loaded with red sand...well let's just say, it's good my laptop stayed home.

I did, however, bring a notebook and a pen. And so I plotted on the plane and wrote down ideas. I even tried writing a couple of chapters out long-hand. (this is very slow) Still, the fact that I got any writing done is a major coup because there was soooo much other wonderfulness going on.

WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO/ WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW

The trip was absolutely AMAZING!!! You may remember I was a tad worried about being stuck on a houseboat in the middle of the Grand Canyon with my whole family clan. Well, I needn't have worried. It was soooo much fun. 

Some of my favorite things included:
- Hiking this really cool slot canyon with streams and caves and waterfalls with pools
- Sleeping on the top deck under the stars. You could see the whole Milky Way and tons of shooting stars. When the moon came up it was searchlight-bright. You could read by it.
- Cliff diving. (Didn't lose my swimsuit top) (Yay!)
- Skinny dipping in the morning while everyone was still asleep
- Night swimming with all the kids. (Even the little ones, who were scared at first, but then said later it was one of their favorite things)
- Drying off in front of a bonfire
- Watching the bats dip their wings over the water
- Building a rock cairn in honor of my Dad. He introduced us all to this glorious place, so it seemed only fitting.

But I think one of the best things was being disconnected from the rest of the world for a week and half. It was incredibly liberating. I felt so free. So unencumbered. So untethered, that my whole soul (if I have one) felt like it could fly. A desert dweller friend of mine says it takes 72 hours to get the city out of your system. What he didn't say, was how hard it is to come back. Don't get me wrong, a hot bath and sleeping in my own bed are very nice, but today, with all these demands on my time...I kind of just want to go back.


In case you're curious, here's a 360 of one of our camp sites.