More of the same today–head down, work on book. I got a lot of important stuff figured out…I should be able to start the actual rewrite soon. I mean the writing-scenes-in-the-book part of it, not the making-scribbles-on-the-outline part.
Mark and I are always remarking about how we’re rushing pell-mell from one thing to the next, without any time to absorb and reflect on where we’ve been. It happened with the England trip, when we rushed home and out to Orcas Island three days later. I worry it’s happening with Orcas Island. For a while now I’ve been mulling over a “what we learned as innkeepers” post, or even just a summary post.
Because writing a blog is one of the only times I reflect on anything–even if it’s just the day that just happened. I used to keep an actual diary; I haven’t done that in many years.
So…it was a fantastic experience, being out there. It wasn’t what we expected, and wasn’t what the inn owners expected either. We’d gone out there with big plans for all the work we were going to get done–writing, art, editing–plus a bunch of nice leisure time. But we had way more inn guests than expected, and then (coincidentally) my proofreading and copy editing work ramped way up. Which was good news all around, of course, but also…busier.
We did find that we really liked keeping an inn. Or, at least, keeping THAT inn. It’s a pretty magical place in a gorgeous setting, and the island was full of really friendly, welcoming people. And the pace of life out there! Very relaxing. We might have been frenetic in our own work and guest schedules, but we were living in a very soothing environment. And amazing things happened there.
We had a whole lot of really great guests. I mean, all our friends who came were awesome; but, with VERY few exceptions, the strangers were pretty marvelous too. (And the unmarvelousness was very brief, and no, I won’t tell you about it, beyond observing that some people probably shouldn’t drink.)
There wasn’t a whole lot of down side. I did miss being home, but less than I thought I would; it was hard being away from my comfortable setup here for work and exercise and my routine, but I did all right. We did both gain weight, falling pretty hard off the diet-and-exercise wagon by the end. We missed those of our friends who weren’t able to visit. And the island’s kind of expensive, just groceries and stuff; and remote, needing a ferry to get to the mainland (which we REALLY noticed when Mark had to rush to California when his dad went into the hospital).
But, despite those minor inconveniences, we had an amazing time. It was kind of astonishing how fast it went. And how quickly we got caught up in “the next thing” here…so, I just wanted to take a moment to think about it.
And yeah, we would totally do it again. We’ve already talked to the Real Innkeepers about perhaps next spring (a year from now)…. 🙂
