I've been in a tussle this past week with the weather, the lawn and my distracted self. The weather, I can't control. It's rained and rained, then rained some more. But this is the Pacific Northwest, known for its temperate rainforest — it's only to be expected.

I can be a terrible procrastinator. Monday comes around, as it does every week, and I sit scrolling through my photographs looking for the next one for a writing prompt. Usually, I can select one with ease. Not because I think all my pictures are amazing, far from it.

The first time we saw the bear we weren't in our house. Away on holiday, we peered at the video footage from the camera that points down from the corner of the garage.

The land on which I live is the unceded, shared land of the Coast Salish Peoples including the territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

How does landscape, real or imagined, rural or urban, influence your stories? Find out how to connect your characters to their world.