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Writing on the Run

Love the life you live. Live the life you love.

~ Bob Marley

I have done a lot of driving this past month, and I have more trips coming. My shoulder is sore–one of those side-effects of aging, I think–and driving aggravates it. More important, being on the road disrupts my writing schedule. Knowing that I have a trip coming up is a kind of block to progress, a mental roadblock. I get tense. I feel as though one day of writing isn’t enough. Wouldn’t it be nice if I had two days in a row? Or a week in a row? How about a month of writing days in a row! Yes!

This is not to say that I don’t plan these trips myself. This is not to say that I don’t consider it my privilege to see my mother and take her to the doctor and shopping and out to lunch. (Besides, she buys my lunch.) This is not to say that fetching my 20-year-old home from Bellingham on Thursday doesn’t sound like a good thing.

But it is what it is. It’s funny that I never have any trouble wasting time — playing Spider Solitaire (crack cocaine for writers, Heather Sellers once told me), or getting stuck watching Reality TV with a daughter because the behavior of those people is just so weird. 

What I have to remind myself of, is that I don’t need scads and scads of time in which to write. I need 15 minutes. Lucky me, this morning I had several 15-minute blocks.

Lucky you. You have them, too. If you hear yourself saying, “I can’t,” I recommend that you go straight toward that can’t. I recommend that you embrace whatever it is that you’re resisting. Don’t use anything as an excuse to avoid  the pursuit of your passion.

Technically? All you ever have is now.

“a world possibly not born until they arrive”

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My to-do list has — for about three weeks — had at the top of it, “Upload pictures from Leavenworth trip.” My husband’s two brothers and his three cousins, plus assorted spouses, met in Leavenworth toward the end of September, stayed at a lodge and cooked amazing food. I felt very lucky to be included. I think it was Judy who gave me an assignment to write about them. 

For now, this blog post will have to do. And here’s a quote that I think will help to hold my place: 

“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.” – Anaïs Nin, from a diary entry in The Diary of Anaïs Nin

 

Chuckanut Sandstone, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 7 p.m.

Wednesday, Oct. 9, at 7 p.m. I’ll be reading poems at Chuckanut Sandstone Writer’s Theater. Visit their blog to learn more.

Chuckanut Sandstone Writers Theater ~ Open Mic ~ monthly

Everyone is welcome to read original writings. ~ Open mic (All styles and topics are welcome.) Bellingham, WA at the Firehouse Cafe, 14th and Harris (Bellingham, near Fairhaven)~ Open mic (All styles and topics are welcome.) Every second Wednesday.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013- 7:00 PM
Featured poet: Bethany Reid will read for the first 30 minutes. New book: Sparrow

Writing every day…

One of my daughters recently bought a guitar and began lessons. We were looking at guitar and other music-related books one evening, and found this quote in The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Art of Songwriting: 

Carole King once told me that she would sit down at the piano first thing every morning and just play whatever melodies came to her for as much time as she could reasonably devote each day. I took this advice to heart and tried it, and after a couple mornings I found I was waking up with melodies and lyric ideas. Apparently our minds and bodies get ready for what we expect them to do.

–Casey Kelly

Same with writing.