By Mary Anderson

I am making the last preparations before I leave home. I have the van mostly packed. My food boxes are ready to go out. My pack awaits a few last-minute items but is otherwise ready for adventure. I’ve got food to eat while driving across country. I even have my dishes done.

Yet there are many things that will get left undone. I will not organize the pile of papers threatening to take over my floor. I may stack them neatly, but that will have to suffice. There is an adventure waiting to happen.

I anticipate this is what it will be like when I finally release my book into the world. I will have most sections neat and tidy, well organized and neatly fit into boxes. And then, at some point I will say, “Enough” and let it go without obsessing over every little detail. If I don’t do that, it might never see the light of day. Just as there are other adventures to be had, there are other books to write. I will organize the first book as best I can and work on saying, “Good enough. Time to leave it now and move on.”

Often when I write, I don’t have a well-formulated plan. I know my beginning point, and I have a vague notion of where I want to go with it. Still, more often than not, I am a bit surprised at how it ends up. But other times, knowing where I am going and planning ahead makes good sense.

I’m thinking of this as I make the final plans for my hike, aware that those plans may change once I am out there. I am trying not to overplan. But I am also remembering last year. When I finished hiking it was mid October, and I ended up driving home in a few snowstorms. While I had packed clothes to change into after the hike, I did not have enough warm clothes to be fully content.

This year, even as I am sweating with the onset of 80-degree days, I am thinking ahead to September. I will pack some warm clothes for driving home.