Episode 2 from my Writer’s Studio in the Woods series.

The past few days, it’s mostly been about the snow. We glimpse the sun during the day, but then the clouds return and, with them, the snow. I’m used to city snow — dirty, slushy, salted and sanded, pushed aside to make way for vehicles and pedestrians. The Guild has a snowplow, but its impact is minimal, leaving wide swathes of snow. Whenever I start to feel sorry for myself, stuck in these snowy woods, I remind myself of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s The Long Winter and O. E. Rølvaag’s Giants in the Earth. I may experience a few moments of discomfort as I walk from my sleeping quarters to the kitchen to make my breakfast, but I’ll never have to risk freezing to death in a haystack as I try to shelter from a blizzard. And they didn’t have snow plows!

Labyrinth, almost invisible under snow. Time to walk it and recreate the path.

The writing progresses, albeit slowly. I’ve been having fun with some chapters about the 1960 presidential debates and election. Those debates took place in September and October, so I love that I can follow them up with some Halloween pranks. But it’s also time to introduce some new characters, and I’m thinking a couple of nutty aunts will be perfect.

It’s time now for second breakfast and then a few hours of steady writing.