Another thrilling glimpse into the glamour of my writing life:
Out the window: High clouds shading from a cold gray, into the bluish Payne’s gray (one of my favorite colors!), into paler shades of off-white and gravel. Strong winds toss the shrubs and trees, so they dance and sway. But the temps are far nicer than expected–the low 60’s, I think. It actually feels like spring, for a change. And so far, the rain has gone around us.
On the desktop: Maps! Two at the moment, but I think I need to create another one. These are the maps I’ve made of the land, and the world, of my novel-in-progress. I started with the area, then spread to the country that the story will operate within. Then I expanded that to the populated world. I didn’t include the poles, since no one lives there, or the uninhabited islands near the equator, or a few other such things…but maybe I should? After all, while my characters will never leave their country, the greater world (though cut off now for nearly 20 years by an apocalyptic event) still exists and is referred to. Looks like I have work to do.
Also on the desk are a couple different notebooks, holding paper notes from when turning on the computer is likely to have me surfing instead of writing (sigh, yes: distractions R me).
Today’s Work-in-Progess: Well, obviously it seems, I need another quick, large-scale map. And then I get to turn my attention to further world building. Today’s topic to adequately explain to myself: How does religion evolve in a world where magic is real, and practiced by humans (with training, but still) for profit? I can already feel the headache coming on as I wrestle with this one. I’d better schedule a couple days for this, I think.
And Another Thing: Remember that Coursera class I’m taking? I expected it to help with my SF short stories, but it’s helped in this fantasy story, as well. I needed a plausible reason why people wouldn’t live on the shore of the oceans, or close to the oceans on navigable rivers. You can only make so many coasts “dangerous cliffs” before it becomes a bit of a stretch, you know? So I pondered this, and it came to me–that lecture in the class, the one on moons? The instructor mentioned that multiple moons would make tides more erratic, and more likely to be huge, like Earth’s Bay of Fundy. Tah-dah!!! Perfect reason not to live near the very dangerous shorelines. My world now has three moons. Which also affected holidays, and their mythology, etc.
Everyday Magic | M. E. Garber 
Additionally, cultural factioning can prevent people from living on shores, and natural or human-made tributaries can make it unnecessary. Any content has ample population that lives miles and miles from oceans. Though three moons does it, too!