Hello!
The hard part of the day was needing help. I know, shocking, that I would struggle in accepting help, but I did... I do. I think I always will.
That being said...without the help, I would not have had the opportunity to get on the water... well.. that may not be completely true. I think I have been jonesing to get on the water so much that I probably would have tried loading and unloading my kayak myself... and hoped that I would not have hurt myself along the way...
It has been just over 5 weeks since surgery. I am feeling pretty well, getting back to what I assume is 'normal.' I am still requiring a lot of sleep and when I get tired I get TIRED. When I hit the wall of exhaustion I have to give into it... I have been trying to get out a bit more, see more people, but am still struggling to plan things ahead of time...(well, unless it relates to kayaking!) because I am not sure how I will feel. I contemplated going to a music performance a couple of weeks ago, but it was on a Friday night and I have found that Friday nights are nights where I need to get to bed early. (Hoping that changes!)
So... Saturday's paddle was great. The weather was a bit damp and dank (dank... sometimes I like that word and other times I think it's gross, but for today, it fits the weather's description for Saturday) but that didn't stop us. Truthfully, we were on a mission. While we have met our deadline for our book there are some destinations for which we still need to get pictures. In addition to that we are supposed to get some photos of ourselves for the 'about the author' section of the book... sounds like it would be easy... it isn't. I was able to get a couple of shots of my writing partner that our publisher says will work, but my writing partner would like to have a few other options to choose from. She tried to get a few of me, Jamie tried too, but... they took one photo at a time and it didn't work out very well. Like everything else in my life... I overthought it! Our publisher has been very specific with us about what kind of shot we need... up close, close enough to see our eyes, but not too close...so that we can be seen paddling in the picture...we need to look happy and friendly, a photo that would draw in the readers... oh.. and it is supposed to look candid. It is challenging! We are trying again soon, fingers crossed we will have some luck. I also have a friend who has taken some great photos of people, family photos, engagement, senior pics, etc... and have enlisted her help in getting the perfect shot. My writing partner insists that we should be wearing our life jackets in the photos... to promote safety... but... I rarely wear my life jacket and am more comfortable paddling without it. So... I think when my friend helps me I will try getting some shots without my life jacket and see if I look a bit more natural.
We were able to get some good shots of the location for the book. We have five other locations we need to shoot. My writing partner didn't have many pictures for the trips she wrote about... I guess not everyone takes hundreds of photos each time they are paddling... weird! Our plan is to kayak one destination each week between now and mid June when we HAVE to have all pictures done.. including our author photos. Eek! Our publisher asked us about photo credits in the book and asked if we were comfortable with not crediting each photo in the book... or just having a blanket statement that the authors also took all the photos... selfishly I was not okay with that. There will be a few photos in the book that I have not taken, one that was taken by a lake association and a handful that my writing partner or her kids have taken. So... I want credit for the photos. (Granted, the photos that will be in the book will be black and white and few will be the close ups of the wildlife and plants, as they want wider shots...but they are still mine... and I want that credit.) So.. we will see how that gets handled. We are excited about some news we recently learned...our copyeditor is also from Maine! That's a win for us! She will understand some of the nuances that people from away don't understand. (Like not having landmarks to use in directions when heading to some remote locations...) She will finish doing her first read over and editing by the end of the month, then we will have a few weeks to read her work, suggestions, and changes, and then provide feedback to her and to our publisher... that will be our last chance to make any big changes... so there is a little pressure there... although when I try to be calm about it, I know that what we submitted was good and think that the changes made will be formatting and not content... and I think I may like some formatting changes... So.. between needing to get the final photos and doing some editing, the next month is going to be busy! But then... once that is done, the school year will be winding down and I will have some time off! (I know I just HAD time off with surgery... but.. it will be different. I will be able to paddle!)
Something that I am struggling with, which pertains to the book..is about my other blog, the kayaking one. As I go on these paddles, to get photos for the book, I want to post something on the blog about it. But... I feel like these trips 'belong' to my writing partner... they are her trips and I am there as the photographer... Plus we want to have some trips that are in the book that are not in the blog... hoping that will sell more books... So... I need to look for some other places to go, places that are not in the book, and places I have not gone... looks like I will need to study my Maine Gazetteer a bit more... the traffic on the blog is increasing, makes sense given the time of year, and I want to make sure I post new entries in order to keep people returning to the blog as well as continuing to post new pictures. I have contemplated posting a few entries that are more story based, my crazy thought processes or stories about paddling, but I think that one thing that makes the blog strong is that it is a place where people can get information, that most people who visit it are not interested in my anecdotes. Plus... I am starting to write some 'articles' about my paddling adventures that we may be able to use as a way to supplement the book. If we write articles for newspapers or for any of the publications our publisher produces we will make some extra money... so.. I think the anecdotal stuff is something I want to have separate from the blog. Of course the kayaking blog has some short stories or references, but the feedback I get from people who visit the blog is they love the directions, descriptions of the launch sites, and the photos.
I am starting to get a little excited about what this book could really lead to... I have had a few moments where I have been recognized for my online presence in the kayaking/paddling community. I belong to a few groups online that relate to kayaking. On one of the forums someone was asking for places to paddle in Maine and I sent a link to my blog and the guy responded with a comment that indicated he was a regular visitor to the blog and identified me as my kayaking handle of Maine Kayak Girl (without spaces!), MKG for use here Also, my friend said that she was talking about going kayaking with me last weekend and someone told her she should check out a blog about kayaking in this area and my friend was able to ask if the blog was associated with MKG... and the person emphatically said YES!! My friend was able to tell that person she was going to be going kayaking with MKG. Too funny! The good part is that I know people use the blog... and it will be interesting to see how this evolves, to see how well it does.
I am considering trying to sell some of my photographs. I have several people who have encouraged me to do that...and I think I could sell some photos, but in order to get started, to get enough printed out to have any kind of inventory, is another story... There are places where I could set up a table (at no cost) and see how I could do... but should probably try to get a tax number in order to do that, and I have no idea where to start with that... but probably should look into it. I would like to build a vacation fund... money from the book (once we have sold enough to cover our advance and hopefully then some...) will go into that fund... and if I could sell some photographs, that would go there too... I have some other ideas too, but not sure I am ready to give those a try... I am very fortunate to be in a place where I am to be financially stable and don't want to seem money hungry, but would really love to have the chance to travel and to do so in a way that is comfortable.
I am in the process of dreaming about the vacation I am going to take next summer. I am going to spend a coupe of weeks in the pacific northwest. Visiting Michael a couple years ago gave me a taste of that part of the country and I want to see more. I hope to get some Michael time when I do this vacation, of course... my plan is to get some time in Portland, OR, Seattle, WA, and spend several days on the San Juan Islands off of Washington State and maybe get over into Victoria British Columbia too. I have been doing some research about the San Juan Islands and feel drawn there. It's strange.. as a kid I had a lot of dreams about being in a car driving along the ocean and seeing whales in the water... and remember dreams of being on a friend's backporch and having her backyard flood and seeing killer whales swimming around... I had forgotten those dreams until I started researching the San Juan Islands. There are places there where you can sit on the shore and watch the whales swim by. I vote YES! I need to get out there. I have found some blog entries of a woman who shares my last name, that share her experience camping with her husband and son on the San Juans. Her blog shares information about places to eat and things to do there. I am sold! I am in the very beginning phases of planning, but I am going to get there next year and cannot wait! (I have started following some businesses that do some whale watching adventures, so most days I have beautiful photos of Orca whales and other wildlife in my facebook feed.)
Wow.. this post is all over the place... It didn't, which may surprise people, say anything, until now, about Mother's Day and my shared birthday with mom... what fell on Mother's day this year. It was a hard day. Some years it has been easier than others to 'celebrate' without Mom... I think adding to the difficulty this year was that I wasn't able to paddle on Sunday. It has kind of become my tradition, to go on a solo paddle on Mother's day... and this year I didn't dare to do that, because I didn't want to be trying to load/unload my kayak and have something surgery related go wrong... and the weather would not have been great to be out either... but it was hard for me to not be on the water Sunday... But as paddling season amps up, I think of Mom even more...and know she would be excited to see what kayaking has added to my life.
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