It’s been a long week.  The day job kicked into high gear, turning into several eleven-hour work days.  I have to admit it’s not as bad as it sounds because the long days were spent “in the field,” which, when translated into “English,” means diving and surveying coral reefs.  It’s tiring, but it beats sitting at a desk.

The reef wasn’t a very nice reef—I’m spoiled, yes—but I love to be on and under water.  The weightlessness is magical.  The smell of the ocean is divine.  I heard whale songs and saw octopus.  Although I’ve seen it many, many times, the way the surface of the ocean ripples is one of the most beautiful things to witness.

The timing of the field work even proved to be fortuitous to my writing.  I’d recently started revisions on a short story that takes place on a tropical Pacific Island, and the coral reef plays a key role.  The revision had been proceeding slowly because I was not satisfied with the setting—I simply couldn’t get it to come to life.  The diving proved to be inspiring, and over the last two days, I’ve made considerable progress (I’ve been getting up at 5 am to get my writing in).  Hopefully my progress will continue, and I will finish the story before the end of the month.  While I’m done in the field for this week, I’m back at it again next week, so there will be no shortage of inspiration and thus no excuses.