Filling the Dry Well

It’s been a while since my last post. I’ve been taking a breather and getting some space in my expectations. I think writers, at least this one, need space from the responsibilities of either writing or promoting. A vacation from the writing business.

When I overdo on anything, I get sort of nauseous. Then I know it's time to back off and regroup. I am not afraid to stop everything to do this. Promotion be damned. The pressure is always on to write, write, write. And then, promote, promote, promote. But sometimes that is the last thing needed by this writer. To put pressure on myself when I need a break is to further dam up my energy.

So, in May, I went to the ocean. I took several days and planted myself alone in an environment that fed and healed my soul. I was grateful to have that time and that place. I was housed in the midst of trees and animals in the woods of Pacific Grove, California. 

I watched deer walk by my window most days, squirrels play in the dirt and chase each other around the trees and ravens greet me loudly each day when I stepped outside. Sometimes leading the way, sometimes dogging my heels.

A short stroll along the walkway built over the ecological area to preserve the native plants from damage took me right to the ocean.








I people-watched, climbed over rocks to the tide pools, noting anemone and birds while collecting shells and pretty bits of things like a bird.


I observed the various bird tracks on the sand in early morning before people waded through destroying the poetic visual. And noted the waves and change of tides over the span of those few days

I laid back on the warm sand, eyes closed while running my fingers through the grains and taking in the warmth of the sun on a hazy, cool afternoon.

Poetry ran through my head. Writing ideas flitted through my mind. But I just let them slide by, knowing they would come back to visit when I was ready to write again.

I drank coffee in the misty, foggy mornings while seated on the leather couch inside the lodge, reading stories on my Kindle.


Warmed by a blazing fire the staff kept stoked all morning, I jotted down notes of the trip and ideas for stories to come.



One story has since evolved into a flash fiction piece in Sirens Call Publication e-zine, called Night Lover, an erotic horror story which was a new genre for me in their Crypto theme. It is free to download at the site.

I also came up with an idea for a past-life short story, more in my genre, and eventually entered it to the SLO Nightwriters contest, themed: Déjà vu. (I'm waiting until the end of July to find out what happens with that one)

So if you find yourself blocked, stuck, dry, barren, depleted, blank—i.e. writer’s block, then try a change of place. A place where you can notice the details around you that you miss in your everyday life. The fresh perspective is effective in filling your dry writing well.


Does a change of place appeal to you? Work to fill your well?

 

 

Renegade Life

Renegade/Rebel:   a person who resists authority, control, or tradition.

Several years ago when I first became enamored by the idea of starting a blog, the only material I could come up with was for a travel blog. I wasn’t ready to put my more intimate thoughts out into the world.

Along came Kristen Lamb and I took an on-line class from her to learn to use social media for promotion (because I had a novel I was finishing and knew I needed to get started thinking about that). She helped us define our log lines; our defining lens through which we see the world. But I wasn’t ready for her log line for me, from the Mothership. I still laugh when I read that. I know I am ‘spacey’ at times, but I don’t want anyone thinking I’m some sort of kook (my insecurity) so I chose instead, ‘straddling the edge,’ or something like that, but last year changed it to ‘writing through time’ because I write stories that entail reincarnation and past lives.

I just finished a second novel that is the past life of two of my characters from my first novel, Dance the Dream Awake. This second story, Haiku Dance, came out of the novel I had begun writing as a follow-up, but was so strong I had to make it into its own stand alone—a love story (romance genre-now in the process of looking for a publishing home).

Through the years of doing this blog, the subject matter has been all over the place while finding my legs for this journey. I’ve gotten braver about revealing my thoughts (I’m a very private person, usually). A psychic friend I had years ago did a Tarot spread for me once, revealing a life I had in Persia that entailed running away with my lover to travel around the country buying and selling things-a gypsy life in which I wrote down the stories of the people we met along the way.

That reading came back to me when years later my husband and I bought a school bus in which to travel around the country to follow a self-styled teacher/guru who was going on a lecture tour at major universities around the country. He had the Monday Night Class in San Francisco, as it became known then, where large groups of people came to listen to his new ideas about life, enlightenment and love in the new age. In truth the trip was an experiment in an alternate life style of being and thinking. But that’s a story for another day.

I bring that experience up to highlight the fact that to make that trip we had to sell all the things we had accumulated in our life up to that point—everything. The trade of ‘things’ for the treasure of the experience was worth it on so many levels—it fast-tracked my growth as a soul (but I still think about those beautiful leather boots I gave up-ha).

People on the outside of an experience will always give their opinion/judgement of what they see—but they do it through the lens of their own limitations and fear filters. It doesn’t disturb me much anymore. I dismiss or ignore such opinions because I have the rich treasure of my experiences, and it is in my heart to continue to learn from and use my entire life for growth as a soul.

If I would give one piece of advice, it would be to push aside the fears you have surrounding a deep desire/need that you might have to do something you’ve been hesitating about, and go for it. If the desire in you is strong—it is your Spirit seeking freedom and growth, something you should not ignore. Don’t let anything hold you back or you will begin to die inside, and then you will create a story you will come to believe as to why you couldn’t do a thing, and it will be a false story.

I get braver as I get older, less fearful to ‘go for it.’ Mistakes are just the bruises you earn along the way, the ‘war wounds’ of the battle to free your spirit. They will become the stories of the book of your life, a book that you will carry with you when you leave this earth. Make it a good one.

I saw this video this morning and thought it appropriate to share to give you a visual of the positive energy/light we carry and throw about all the time in our daily experience. If we could see this energy, it might look like this. (Maybe Kristen wasn't far wrong about where I'm coming from-ha).

 

Carry on creating your book-you know, the one about your life.

 

So, how afraid are you to try new experiences?