I’ve been back in San Diego for a few days now, and it’s astonishing to have free time as Christmas approaches. Dad was in town with my uncle Tom on the 20th, so we had an early family dinner at my grandparents’. Tomorrow he heads off to Boracay for a month long trip. Since then I’ve occupied myself in fairly prosaic but seriously neglected things. I transplanted two fan palms I’d been nurturing from the garden in the back to the front, and actually met a neighbor that I’d never spoken to before. And I’ve been doing a *lot* of reading in general and more specifically, continued research for the book. Also getting back in touch with friends and family that I normally never seem to have time for. This is a good time of year for that, maybe the best.
Here are a few photos from the Big Sur trip. This was on the journey back south on the US 1. Happy Holidays.
big sur, family, friends, nature, san diego, travel
Returned from Big Sur to LA. For what I set out to do, the trip was gratifying. When I arrived at the cabin, the book was a bunch of disconnected blobby ideas floating in formation. Now I have a coherent structure and far more material. The outline is basically complete–I’m sure there will be some pruning and grafting here and there, but it’s there. I’ve got roughly 100 pages written. There’s a long way to go, but I’m over the hump. It’s not just a bunch of ideas for a book anymore–it’s for real.
I’m really happy about that! I seriously underestimated how far I could get done up there. This is the longest and most complex document I’ve ever written. But when you’re in a quiet place, with no phone, Internet, TV or anyone with you, there are no distractions, and I got seriously productive. I wrote and wrote, and when I didn’t I read, or went out into the mountains and trees, or just slept.
So there it is. My “vacation” is basically over. Soon I’ll be back in San Diego spending time with Heather and my family leading into Christmas. I’m looking forward to coming home.
big sur, philosophy, travel, writing
