My day job occasionally takes me to interesting places.  Most of these places are remote islands in the Pacific Ocean.  Currently I’m on Palmyra, a small atoll about 1000 miles south of the Hawaiian Islands.  It’s isolated by its distance from nearly everywhere (the closest “inhabited” island is Teraina, about 120 miles away, but it’s not exactly a booming metropolis).  Yet in this modern age, Palmyra isn’t really all that isolated—I have an internet connection.

While my work here involves long hours, I can generally squeeze some quality writing time into the dark hours before the sun comes up (I’m an early riser).  In fact, I’m writing this as the sky is just beginning to lighten and the sea birds are squawking their morning chorus.  Out the window are palm trees and the atoll’s lagoon, which will slowly shade from aquamarine to turquoise as the sun comes up.  Palmyra is a great place to write because the new surroundings and the quiet beauty awakens my mind and creativity.

The last few weeks, the words have been coming hard, and I’ve been stuck on a story.  However, I’m happy to say that I have finally finished the first, and hardest, draft—just this morning—and now I’m ready to put that on the shelf for a while and work on something new.  That will have to wait until tomorrow; my battery is running low and the coral reefs are calling….