Contemplation

(Click to enlarge)

See that lone figure

in the distance

along the uneven breakwall?

Miss your step

and down slips 

your foot

your ankle

your leg

crrrrrrack.

But see that lone figure?

She is sure-footed

wise

and 

careful.

She will not

fall.

That's

my

editor:

Joanna Cotler.

The

best.

xx

Thinking Time

Every writer's office needs a comfy sofa, don't you think? Sometimes you just have to lie back and read or close your eyes and think or maybe . . .nap.

I'm a big believer in the nap as precursor-to-great-ideas.  The first page of Walk Two Moons surfaced from a nap; most other books of mine have leaped into life following a nap or a good night's sleep.

Sometimes the mind is most creative when you leave it alone.

As productive as naps, ordinary rhythmic pursuits like walking,  running, kayaking, skiing, cycling, ironing, and knitting also free the mind of clutter, allowing new insights and new connections to reveal themselves.

You do need to sit down and write in order to get a story down, and many ideas come while you are writing, but much also surfaces when you're not writing.

Take a walk. Take a nap. Leave the mind alone for a while.

Beach Revisions

Time: noon today.  Place: Oak Island, NC.  Temperature: 70.  Activity: Revising.

Today I was working on revisions.  At the beach.  Truly.  Received long, eloquent editorial letter yesterday, with astute observations and questions on the work-in-progress.  The questions are complicated and not easy to resolve, but if resolved, they will make the book stronger. And so today, with the questions in mind, I walked the beach. And sat. And walked. And sat. And thought.

The value of thinking/gazing time is enormous. It's an essential part of writing, and it is why many writers take on that glazed, daft look: they are off in the world of the book, resolving problems, even when they are not at the computer/typewriter/paper--maybe especially when they are not at the computer/typewriter/paper.

These are the times when I put the phone in the fridge, the milk in the oven, keys in the freezer. It is hard to live in two worlds at once, mm?