Camping in May in New Hampshire is risky. You really don’t know what the weather will be like. Fortunately, we had beautiful weather. Or this would have been my last camping trip in May, but don’t tell my husband.

On Sunday we went on a long bike ride. And, if you couldn’t guess, camping in the White Mountains means that the bike trails will not be flat! Our first hill was a very looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong hill. Kids were crying. Calves were burning. Parents were begging encouraging.

And as my daugher said, “It feels like someone is slashing my legs with a knife. And then shoving red hot pokers on them. And then pouring lighter fluid on them and lighting them on fire. And then taking a machetti to them. (No, she’s not dramatic at all.)

On the way back to camp though, we had a loooooooooooooog downhill ride. The kids were calling the downhills “happy”. (reflecting their mood) And on this long downhill, they switched over to the word bliss. So all the way down, they kept calling out.

“Bliss!”

And then my daughter said, “I’m effervescing!” (Yeah, we like to read books and then use the harder words in our daily vocab. out of context.)

Riding uphill is extremely hard. Riding downhill – coasting – is a lot of fun. Let’s switch gears to writing. For me, I experience writing bliss when writing the emotional scenes on the first draft.

What part of the writing experience is “bliss” for you. Drafting? Outlining? Writing the first draft? Revising? Polishing? And I dare you to call out “Bliss” when you are feeling happy writing. (Or go crazy and make up your own word!)