Writing Retreat 2020: The Numbers

Posted on by Patrick
Cloudy prairie sky

My goals for this past week’s writ­ing retreat were:

  • Fin­ish the last scene in “The Slow Apoc­a­lypse”, first draft
  • 1,500−2,000 words a day in either Trans­la­tions or “Dried Flowers”
  • Pho­tos of the Milky Way (pos­si­bly a video) and Comet NEOWISE
  • Pho­tos of the countryside
  • Dai­ly bike ride
  • Some kayak­ing

Let’s see how I did.

  • I fin­ished “The Slow Apoc­a­lypse” on my first evening
  • I wrote 13,000 words between Trans­la­tions, aka Daniel, Daniel, Daniel, and “Dried Flowers”
  • I got all kinds of pho­tos of the Milky Way and the comet—even on the nights where clouds were fore­cast, there was usu­al­ly at least some time where the stars were visible
  • I also took all kinds of pho­tos in the daytime
  • I rode my bike every day, for a total of over 60 km (which sur­prised me)
  • And I went out in the kayak three times, cov­er­ing about 10 km in the lake

So, on bal­ance, that was a good week.

  • Panoramic view of Lake Minnedosa from a kayak
    Lake Minnedosa from a kayak
  • Minnedosa cairn with a plough on top
    The plough cairn
  • Comet NEOWISE and aurora
    Comet NEOWISE and aurora
  • The International Space Station ducks behind a cloud
    I waved to the ISS astro­nauts as they went by
  • Sunset with clouds: blue, orange, pink, and indigo
    Sun­set on a Fri­day evening
  • Star Trails
  • '49 Mercury truck in bright orange
    ’49(ish) Mer­cury
  • A cloudy sky
    I could­n’t tell if these would rain on me or not (they didn’t)
  • A cloudy sky
    I could­n’t tell if these would rain on me or not (they didn’t)
  • Willow leaves
    The leaves of a wil­low, with the lake in the very blurred background
  • Macro shot of a tree branch
    I think it’s a wil­low, but cor­rect me if I’m wrong
  • Comet NEOWISE above the prairie horizon
    Comet NEOWISE just above the horizon
  • The Milky Way above an evergreen
    I found a nice pho­to­genic tree with the Milky Way behind it
  • Comet NEOWISE
    Comet NEOWISE above the trees
  • The Milky Way and a hydro pole
    The Milky Way, fac­ing north
  • Comet NEOWISE, a shooting star, and the Milky Way
    Comet NEOWISE, a shoot­ing star, and the Milky Way
  • Comet NEOWISE and aurora
    Comet NEOWISE and some faint aurora
  • The Milky Way
    Milky Way panorama
  • The Milky Way
    Milky Way panorama
  • Stop Sign with "GO" graffiti
    Mixed Mes­sage
  • Macro of a leaf
  • Canola field, bright yellow, under a cloudy sky
  • Macro flowers (bluebells?)
  • Blurred photo of flowers
  • Masons' icon
  • Coffee perking under a window
  • Blue sky above the highway
    High­way 16A
  • Cloudy prairie sky
    The prairie sky
  • Panorama: curved highway with canola fields in the background
    Panora­ma with canola
  • Canola field panorama
  • Milky Way and a shoot­ing star
  • Also the Milky Way, and also a shoot­ing star
  • Comet NEOWISE — Look close­ly, and you’ll find I caught both tails
  • Comet NEOWISE
  • Comet NEOWISE, just as the fog start­ed rolling in
  • Macro of the grass on the side of High­way 16A
  • A crow (?) har­rass­ing a hawk (?)
  • High­way 16A, with no traffic
  • The prairie from a hill
  • Seen bet­ter days
  • Polo­nia in its valley
  • Startrails and Lightning
    The clouds to the north­east were a bit active, but the stars came out above them, too.

Series: Bike Ride Photos

The entire series: Down by the riv­er; Bike ride birds; The ex-gar­den and the weir; Snap­shots of a ride; Across Town; Black­bird; North Hill cam­pus; Lilacs and coun­try roads; A pop of colour; Back lane flow­ers; More Breniz­ers; The riv­er is high; A bird and a reflec­tion; Rideau Park; Writ­ing Retreat 2020, Day 7; Writ­ing Retreat 2020: The Num­bers; Storm dam­age, sun­flow­ers; Eleanor Kidd gar­dens; Scenes from today’s ride; All right, autumn can be pret­ty; Bike ride, April 10, 2021; Bike ride wildlife; Bike ride, May 16, 2021; Some flow­ers for you; Lilacs; Under the bridge; A fence, a tree, and the sky; Tur­tle Cross­ing; Ceme­tery crit­ters; On Reflec­tion; Week­end rides; Upon Reflec­tion; Deer and paparazzi; Sep­tem­ber Bike Ride; Corn & Sun­set; On Reflec­tion: Oct. 1st; Autumn Trees; A bit of graf­fi­ti; Novem­ber bike ride; Geese; Day 30; Quack quack; Skin­ny deer; Mon­day bike ride; Sat­ur­day snaps; Deer + Flow­ers; Bike Ride — July 17, 2022; The mead­ow; It seems to be autumn; Por­tal fan­ta­sy; Sla­va Ukrai­ni; Writ­ing Retreat 2023: Thurs­day bike ride; Bike Ride, May 20, 2024; Shy; Cana­da Day ride; A long ride; Cook­ie Ride redux; Writ­ing Retreat 2024: 6; Writ­ing Retreat 2024: The End; Bike Ride, Sep. 22, 2024; Today’s Ride — Oct. 6, 2024; Souris Val­ley; Bike Ride Pho­tos — May 19, 2025; Bike ride, May 24; Art in the trees.

Series: Writing Retreat 2020

The entire series: Writ­ing Retreat 2020; Writ­ing Retreat 2020, Day 1 & 2; Writ­ing Retreat 2020, Day 3; Writ­ing Retreat, Day 4; Writ­ing Retreat 2020, day 5; Writ­ing Retreat 2020, Day 6; Writ­ing Retreat 2020, Day 7; Writ­ing Retreat 2020, Day 8; Writ­ing Retreat 2020, Day 9; Writ­ing Retreat 2020: The Num­bers.

Inter­est­ed in prints of my pho­tos? Let me know, and we can work some­thing out.