Bathroom Selfies and Editing Entertainment
Okay, so let’s just be honest here: I got back from a three-week vacation last week and I’m still not back in gear.
Fairy Glen, Isle of Skye, Scotland, 9.17.19
Once upon a time, oh, about fifteen years ago, my friend Jan and I promised ourselves that when the last of our children graduated from homeschooling, we’d treat ourselves to a trip to Scotland.
The years went by and every so often, we’d remind each other that it was only “twelve more years to Scotland” or “seven more years to Scotland.” Soon enough, the time came last year for my youngest to graduate. This year, Jan’s youngest also graduated, concluding twenty-four years of homeschooling for her and twenty years for me.
We booked our trip through Nordic Visitor (who I’d highly recommend because they’re awesome) and started getting seriously excited. I can honestly say that we made the most of our twelve-day self-driving tour of Classic Scotland and the Orkney Islands. I can also honestly say that I would be able to go back, do the same drive, and discover all kinds of new things the second time around. There was just so much to see and do, and much of it was off the beaten path, which made it wonderful. The Fairy Glen pictured above, for example, had at least a couple dozen people wandering around while we were there, climbing all over, but as you can see in my photo, only one or two people were visible at any given time because it was so large. Many of the places were remote enough that I felt as if I’d discovered them myself.
Part of Scotland’s charm and history is the sheer number of castles still standing and available for exploration.
I decided to have a little fun while in Doune Castle—used in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Castle Leoch in the Outlander television series, and Winterfell in A Game of Thrones. There were personal privies in some of the chambers for the royals and special guests, so I took a series of medieval bathroom selfies to entertain my kids and to embarrass Jan. There were four private privies in this particular place, and I took advantage of all of them.
But I won’t bore you with my vacation tales and photos. If you’re genuinely curious about my trip through the Scottish Highlands, Orkney, and the after-Scotland days in York, Yorkshire Dales, and parts of Bavaria, I’ll be writing about it on my Medium account over the upcoming weeks/months. Writing about it here today is really kind of a cheat, actually, because I’m still finding my way back to reality and didn’t have a blog post ready.
If you’re looking for genuine editing advice from me today . . .
Please be sure to pop on over to the Writers After Dark website, where you can read my most recent Ask Lynda the Awesomest Editor™ post about styles and why editors can do things differently from each other and still be correct. It’s always fun with the WAD gang, and you can find me there on the second Thursday of each month. You can also find terrific posts and podcasts from the WAD writers themselves, S.K. Anthony and Raymond Esposito, so explore a little while you’re there, and be sure to say hello in the comments.
See you in two weeks!