My Brush With the Government Shutdown

I'm sending my fictional friends (characters) on a camping trip to Anacapa Island.  It's one of the Channel Islands off the coast of Southern California (think Island of the Blue Dolphins) and is part of a national park.  While researching ways to get to the island, I clicked on "make reservations" on a website and received a "Closed due to the Government Shutdown" notice.

My research can certainly wait. But I couldn't help but think of the countless people affected by the closure. Tourists. Business owners. Employees. Some Federal workers. All of us, really, because of the insecurity and insanity lurking in the air.

In fiction, a novelist works to resolve conflict, or at least to understand it. If a scene doesn't work, we start over.  And if a character doesn't cooperate , he or she gets rewritten or sent to the recycle bin. Like fiction, our government is a work in progress.  I hope the powers-that-be get their act together soon.