A Walk in the Woods + A Brief Writing Update

It's March, and Spring is finally showing its face once more. I enjoy winter, but usually by this time of the year, I'm also happy to see warmer weather and the sun for more hours of the day. Yesterday, I was able to get out for a 2.3-mile hike, and it was a really good decision! It was great to get out into the fresh air and get some exercise and sunshine even if it was only about 45 degrees. 

The stream was cold! But there's something about sticking my hand in running water that grounds me and calms me. And in this case, the shock of the cold woke me up a bit as well.

This hike was also the first time I tried out bird-watching. I got myself some binoculars and was able to see a handful of birds. A few were definitely robins. I know that much at least. Some were, I think, red-bellied woodpeckers. And there were at least two other types that I can't yet identify, but I hope to gain more bird knowledge and be able to identify more on the fly during my future walks.

My binoculars came with an attachment I can use to set my phone up and take pictures through the binoculars. I haven't quite figured that one out yet! But maybe soon I will. In the meantime, the picture on the right (from Wikipedia) is of a red-bellied woodpecker of the sort I saw.

credit: wikipedia

As for a writing update, I'm hard at work on two projects concurrently. One is the first draft of a mystery novel.You can keep up with my progress on the right side of the page under the Word Counts widget. So far, I have about 35,000 words out of an anticipated 85,000. Mystery is definitely a different beast than fantasy, but I enjoy reading mysteries and I'm enjoying writing this one. 

The other project is, of course, Book 3 of The Heartfriends trilogy. I'm revising the first draft into something with more detail and bones and cohesion. As usual, I have no idea how long that process will take! So far, each book of the trilogy has been a completely different experience. But I'm aiming for it to look more like an actual book than just words on pages by the summer, so we'll see how much trouble it gives me!