building a writing career

The Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon started on Sunday and goes through Tuesday. The main race is a 300 mile long trek along Northern Minnesota. I believe a majority of it covers sections of the Superior Hiking Trail, but there is a section that goes up into the Boundary Waters area as well. The race ends in Grand Portage, MN. We’ve always wanted to see parts of it in person and since the checkpoints were nearby, we bundled up for the -14 below temps to cheer the teams on for part of the evening.

What I love about watching dogsled teams is how excited the sled dogs are to race. I’m sure the musher is excited too, but with their layers of winter gear, it’s hard to see their facial expressions. The dogs look eager and happy. Some of the younger ones are often tugging in anticipation.

At the checkpoint we visited, the dogs were quiet while pulling the sled along the darkened trail that wove through the woods. Each team had a headlight that we spotted a few minutes before they reached the checkpoint. Often, when the team reached the road, one dog would yip in protest when the sled stopped to wait for volunteers to guide them across the road to their designated spots at the checkpoint. It didn’t take long for a few others to follow. I posted a video of a team waiting to cross the road below.

The last time I saw a dogsled race it was a much shorter one in Menomonie, Wisconsin, nearly twenty years ago. The race went around a park so we could see the dog teams most of the race. A retired gentleman had a team of “old” Siberian huskies (dogs are often retired when they’re around seven-years-old) and took them around the course. When the musher got to the furthest point from the start line, his lead dog laid down and the rest of the team copied her. From where we stood, we watched the man gesture and coax, but his team refused to budge.

Another musher came to the man’s rescue with his dogsled. Apparently, old Siberian huskies need competition because as soon as the new team went by, the old team started to move (just not very quickly). The guy with the Siberian husky team laughed and joked about his dogs going his speed when they crossed the finish line.

The dogs that participate in the Beargrease Marathon are much younger and eager to run (and, yes, there are teams of Siberian huskies). I’ve monitored the progress of the mushers today and they’re making good time because of the firm snow caused by cold temps. I think we’re supposed to get up to two-degrees F today.

One day I might have to write a story about a dogsled team.

Speaking of writing… I submitted a short story last week. This week I plan to continue writing the fantasy story I started last week. It’s a fun story that has me curious about what’s going to happen. I’m expecting my romance novel to return from my copy editor this week. If all goes well, it’ll be up for sale by this weekend.

The other items on my writing list include writing some handouts for my upcoming drawing class, writing a short story for another market, and to add some posts to my art blog (ArtByBrandyW.com).

I hope everyone stays warm and has a great week.

Last week, it took me a little longer than usual to fall into my normal writing routine. I took a few days to take care of household items that were urgent and touched base with friends and family since we hadn’t talked to many of them since Christmas. I also plotted out my goals for the year in writing, personal, and business. It helped me gain some clarity on what to work on next and to prioritize a few things that I let slip (such as updating the look of my website).

There were also the “required” visits to the shores of Lake Superior to appreciate the huge ways. My favorite days around here are the ones where the wind is blowing toward shore. The water is magnificent. I’ve learned since moving here that the wind shifts direction. Some days when the wind blows toward Wisconsin (which is 30 miles away) I wonder how big the waves must be on their shores. One day, I may have to drive around the lake to see. Sadly, the drive is over one-hundred miles to find out. 

For my writing, I tossed a short story that I started at the beginning of the week because the topic required too much research in a short time. Don’t get me wrong, I love to research, but it’s easy for me to chase a lot of rabbit trails about a topic, especially when it has to do with space exploration and new technology. The idea will be revisited at another time. My research will happen during my reading time so that I don’t use up my precious writing time chasing my curiosity.

I’m almost finished with a second short story that I’m writing for a market. I hope to have it done by Tuesday at the latest so I can have a few days to polish. There’s also my next fantasy novel that I started and will continue to write this week.

The drawing guide I’m writing is started. I have about three blog posts I plan to post this week on my art website about drawing, and finish the handout this week.

I hope everyone has a good week.

We just returned from a trip to Hailey, Idaho and Salt Lake City, Utah to visit friends and celebrate Christmas with our kids. The weather felt like spring and I found myself wishing I could bring it back with me. When we got home, I discovered our weather, while slightly colder, is warm enough to bring rain. Maybe this is a lesson on being careful what you wish for because rain in January in Northern Minnesota will very quickly turn to ice. Despite this, I’m enjoying the warmer temps.

I didn’t get much writing done while in Salt Lake City. We spent our days exploring the city. One of my favorite things we came across was the “Seven Pillars of Humanity” at Holdman Studios. It’s a gorgeous story of humanity across cultures and generations depicted in stained glass. Each pillar is over seven feet tall and about three feet wide. I spent over an hour marveling at the detail in each section. The way the variety of colors of glass were used to capture the depth of the scene and the painted details of the faces were fantastic. The piece is like a painting out of glass. You can take a virtual tour of it online at https://www.rootsofhumanity.org/7-pillars. However, if you ever have a chance to see it in person, I strongly recommend you do so. Stained glass is an art medium that looks better to the naked eye than in a photo.

Our love of the “Seven Pillars of Humanity” led us to the “Roots of Knowledge” stained glass mural at the Fullerton Library at UVU in Orem. This is a permanent display that is just as incredible. You can take a virtual tour at: https://www.uvu.edu/rootsofknowledge/tour/. The mural is a timeline of historical events leading up to the future. I enjoyed the storytelling of the mural and the amount of detail in every panel. When you look at each panel, you can see how items in the past shaped the future. Along the way, there are non-glass objects like rocks and computer parts put into scenes. The mural starts with a tree that has roots that stretch through the bottom panel of every scene until it reaches the ending tree, which has a hand passing a torch to the future generation. The future tree has branches that run along the top glass panels all the way back to the beginning tree. Again, if you ever find yourself in Salt Lake City, take an hour or so to visit the mural in Orem. You won’t regret it.

This week, I have two short stories I’d like to finish and a novel I plan to start. I also have a drawing booklet that I’d like to start for a beginner drawing community education class I’m teaching in February. If you live near the Silver Bay, MN area and want to learn to draw, you’re more than welcome to join in.

I hope everyone has a good week.