A Change Of Plans

I'm a planner. Well, mostly anyway. But even a planner has to be prepared for the unexpected. If you've been following the Seattle area weather this week, you've probably noticed that we've had a bit of an unusual spell of weather. It was caused by something called snow. Now, I know all you Canadians and East Coast readers will just think Seattle has no idea about how to deal with snow, but the simple truth is that it doesn't actually snow very much in Seattle and when it does, all the hills make things very challenging. Yes, Seattle is a very hilly place! Then there's all the trees. Seattle is green and verdant and full of forests and trees. Those trees extend into neighborhoods too. And this week not only did we get a whole load of snow, but we also got a whole load of ice too - the ice storm was VERY rare. End result - falling trees, downed power-lines, blocked roads, accidents - you name it, we had it.

So, where am I going with all this? Well, this weekend my wife and I were due to go away on vacation. We had booked a quiet retreat in a log cabin, tucked away in the San Juans. Five days of solitude and a chance to do some uninterrupted writing and reading. But the weather has put a stop to it. The owners of the place where we were due to stay called to say it wasn't a good idea to try and travel there this weekend. Sadness ensued all around.

This means it's time for a change of plans, just as this blog post title declares. As soon as I got the news, I jumped online and booked a downtown Seattle hotel for the weekend. At least we can escape and have a couple of days away from home, even if it won't be filled with reading and writing. Instead it'll be a pretend we're tourists weekend, where we get to visit several downtown stops in between sheltering from the predicted downpours of rain and dodging the icy sidewalks. It's going to be fun!

In all things in life we must be prepared for a change in plans. Even as we write our novels. I am embracing this change and looking forward to something totally unexpected. Besides, We'll still get to the San Juans - it's just going to be a couple of weeks delay. If only changes in novels were that simple!