Watch now | Deep in the Summer Surge Challenge and learn resistance isn't weakness, it's recognition of the true storytelling ground. Welcome into the mid-point of the challenge. It’s week four and that means 21 days to go. From the live conversation here are some major revelations, a bomb breakthrough and a clear wrestling match with AI
🐦⬛ Week Four, Day Seven: Late to the game today but here. A bit of a hangover from mother/son time. You forget how intense having a guest can be).
A good night of sleep and I'm at it again. Two chapters yesterday (after he left) and they presented a beautiful opportunity for breaking time, which is my favorite kind of writing. I did it first in Show Me the Way, with the opening story by the same title. I wrote about having my son and then about my mother's death. I used images and transitions to shift through time. I did the same in The One Year Marriage published in the Norton Anthology called Knitting Yarns. I'll attach that link here: (https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/vz64cpmqtbio3v9s0my23/One-Year-Marriage.pdf?rlkey=q1ka9fcz1smn6zpt87gnj8i6b&dl=0).
Breaking time means laying two stories in one core timeline. So now I'm doing it in the novel only instead of a flashback model, I have two POV characters pushing time forward and stopping each of these progressions at a crucial, tension-filled moment. It's hard writing but so much fun. This is kind-of what I live for as a writer and geek out on.
I will finish this book during this challenge so...on ward!
🐦⬛ Week Four, Day One: Confession time. I dropped the ball on you guys today. I woke up late, had to deal with garden stuff, had a class and then all the class stuff after and well...tick ⏰ tock...didn't get here until 12!
Okay. Okay. Here I am and I'm asking our week four question:
HOW IS EVERYONE DOING? Let's check in.
I'll start: I don't want to finish this book! I care too much about these characters and now really bad things are about to happen them. know I can do this but I kind of hate it. But I must, but I don't want to, but I must...okay. Off to write now. ✍️ Suggestions?
Week Four, Day Two - I am in a big push to leave for my road trip to California tomorrow (from Tacoma Wa). I'll be visiting my daughter in Davis for a few days then going to Sonoma for an in person opening for the Color of Women art process I'm in. I'll be gone for two weeks so now the whelming feeling is upon me. I have finally stepped into a good flow of making progress in getting caught up on my gardens. Now, I feel the anxiety of leaving with so much still undone, knowing how the vegetation will continue to overtake....... I breathe through the feelings, releasing, accepting, moving........
I've been writing through it all, at least little bits here and there. I will have time on this trip to write more without any home obligations. That has a refreshing feeling.
I really like the Week Four Mission: Embrace the Wrestling! This speaks to me directly in how I've been feeling in all aspects of my life. I feel like I am in a big wrestling match, with me in one corner of the ring up against a variety of 'opponents'. As I wrote that last line, my first thought was, "the opponents are actually my allies in disguise". Then I thought of #1 of the Mission - "Thank Your Guardians". Yes! I like that! I'll be thanking my guardians and exploring who these opponent/allies are in the ring with me.
You'll be near me in your travels. I live in Rohnert Park, halfway between Petaluma and Santa Rose. I hope you enjoy your time in beautiful Sonoma. How splendid you're taking time to devote to your art process.
🐦⬛ Week Four, Day Three: Hi all and it's update time. Three new chapters, two revised. A huge day of writing that had a slow start but a strong finish. When nearing the end of a draft, it's always this way. The pure momentum of the whole crashes down and you cannot help create in a fast, intense way. It's like biking down a steep hill. After a while, you have to stop pedaling and let gravity take you. This is a small excerpt from my mean little antagonist after she failed in her attempt to kill a priest:
Overhead, a hawk wheels toward the river, shrieks, and then drops into the water with wings pressed close to its sides.
Enrica startles back.
The hawk splashes into the water and is gone under.
Regaining her position, she holds to the rail and in a hard beat of wings, the hawk is out with a silver fish gripped in its talons. Clear droplets of the Belbo rain off the bird’s feathers, and it’s claws, and the fin of the convulsing fish.
He’s got it, Enrica thinks, admiring the story before her. The rise of the brave bird with his quarry but then the fish slips free and tumbles head over tail over head. At the surface, the fish into the water. Gone.
“Ah,” Enrica calls and shakes a fist in protest.
The great hawk flies high and higher still, circled and banks along the river once more.
Next time, Enrica thinks. Next time you’ll get your reward.
I hope you all have great travels and do good work out there! XO
🐦⬛ Week Four, Day Five: My son is here after a four day retreat. We are laughing, catching up on everything, walking on the beach, eating great food, kayaking. Basically, a fabulous two day break from the writing. Which I kinda of need.
When we have momentum of a project, it's so hard to stop. But a pause is a good thing. A pause to get perspective. A pause to get insight. A pause to just breathe a little and be...
When do you "pause" and what fruit is on the other side of that pause?
Don't forget our next meeting. July 2 @ 9:00 a.m. I'll get that link out to everyone soon.
I've definitely had a pause helping my daughter through the diagnostic process, which is ongoing, and taking a little road trip with her and my granddaughters in the midst of it. I was feeling totally disconnected from writing when we returned, but then I remembered I have several old CDs I used to use in the '90s that are good for putting me in a state of mind that enables me to relax and focus. I tried one the other day and drafted a prologue for my new novel. I like having a prologue in place, but based on my experience with my first two novels, I expect it'll be quite different by the time I finish the novel.
Brilliant. Sound is such a powerful driver. This from a terrific handout in Bones on setting: "Emotions, however, are often affected by what we hear. Think of the effects of a favorite piece of music, the sound of a person's voice, the whistle of a train. In conversation, tone of voice is a more reliable indicator of mood and meaning than words alone. Sounds can make us shudder, shiver, jump -- or relax and smile. Scene that include sounds -- fingers scraping a blackboard, the distant baying of a hound -- are more likely to evoke an emotional response."
It's so easy to forget to bring in more senses than just sight when writing. I want to keep sound, smell, taste, the physical feel of things in mind next time I sit down to write.
🐦⬛ Week Four, Day Two: Read this last night in The Habit of Being which is a collection of letters from the remarkable Flannery O'Connor. I've posted a few times here about her (and over at Blackbird's Lit Lessons):
"When you write a novel, if you have been honest about it and if your conscience is clear, then it seems you have to leave the rest in God's hands. When the book leaves your hands, it belongs to God. He may use it to save a few souls or to try a few others, but I think that for the writer to worry about this is to take over God's business." ~ to Eileen Hall, 10 Mar. 1956.
I love this woman.
📝 Off I go to work on the hardest part of this book...wading in hip deep mud right now but do see the shore a ways off.
🐦⬛ Week Four, Day Six: My son is still with me, so it's hard to be in the writing here but I did get stunning news that an editor I deeply admire has agreed to read the final version of my novel. I shared my anxiety with her about the word count and she told me to keep everything in place so she can see it. She wrote: "Nobody told Dickens how many words his books should be. I think one should read before one suggests cutting." Oh how I love her. Talk about a wrestling match i my head because it is long. She's got a great mind, so well read, edits all the biggies for the big 5 and knows her stuff. A NYT Bestseller in her own right, too.
I couldn't be happier. 🤸🏻🤸🏻🤸🏻
Safe travels to Tracy and welcome back to Kristi, Sara, and Laura. I'm flying through your terrific adds to the conversation. Remember out meeting is coming, Wednesday! See you all there.
🐦⬛ Week Four, Day Four: The challenge holds us, though most are traveling. Jill and I hold the hearth fires burning (thank you, Jill!)
Yesterday's writing went well. 1800 words forward in the story and it would have been more, except I thought about what I teach (STAY IN SCENE) and rearranged what was a FB series that I was creating--mostly to be lazy--and so it goes.
When are you lazy in your creative writing? When do you continue a habit (telling, overuse of adverbs, soft verb) that you know you need to break while telling yourself, "I'll fix this later"?
I have seen this kind of lazy in my writing and tell myself I will get into it more later. I am aware of it more this summer. I hear my teachers saying..."get closer."
Traveling is a good time to listen for great lines. I do this while watching baseball at night too.
I love this, Jill. Full immersion as a writer...seeing the great use of language all around you. (and Sara S loves baseball, too). What's the best line you've heard in baseball-lingo this week?
I’m inspired! The first half of the challenge my writing came in fits and starts interspersed with medical pauses and travels days. Now I am in the most organized and “to do” list free place I’ve ever been in my adult life. All I have to do for the next two weeks is eat, take my fertility injections, and write. I’m committing to 1,000 words a day for the next 21 days! And I’m open to more than that of the flow really starts to roll!
Week four, day two. I'm in the wrestling match after getting feedback in Studio. I had this notion that I was only hitting a surface level with my story. Today, I spent more time in study than writing. I'm grateful for feedback that helps me dive deeper rather than spinning in my own thoughts.
Oh no! When we dive in the water, we are always cutting through the surface but also touching on the depths and yours are there without question. Let me count the ways, the detailed description of Natalie as one way and the protag as another. The comparison to Mom (great tell), the push back "What are you hiding from?" which asks a sharp and surprising question. That is the hot center of...not a shallow scene...but a deep one. Right now, it could be you just mark it, see it, and nod to it. And then keep writing at level of scene, meaning, sense, and clarity (think of this as your muscle building rep work) and when you circle back, you'll know what to do.
I just finished an edit/update to my scene submission. I love it so much more now that it includes more depth and cuts to the action. Thanks for your help and encouragement.
Yeah, definitely muscle building. It was so surprising to me to hear the feedback of the deeper issues that I didn’t see before and I wrote it. 😂 This is all so good and helpful. I have researched character development and dimensions today. It proved to be a great refresher of where the protagonist is going and stages of growth. Thank you Jennifer!
(Looks like it's just us, Jill! Did we make a wrong turn? Where are all the other challengers? 🤷🏻♀️...No matter. I'm still running. And so are you ;-)
Hi, Wonderful People! I am 55,496 words into stringing my memoir together, with occasional deletions and edits in my draft.
My garden is coming along well; there's a lot of work to be done, and I love doing it. One of my favorite times these days is enjoying coffee outside on warm mornings with my husband, along with our two Westies and our cat, Bohdi. Surrounded by the beauty of flowers, trees, veggies, and singing birds. Ahh, that's what I call a good life!
I have been inspired this past week by an old song that I came across and wanted to share a few of the lyrics with you, in the hope that they will inspire you a little as well.
Great share. I'm looking it up. And I'm with you, Kristi. I love taking my coffee out and looking over the daily growth. Now is the time the results of all the soil work, and seed starting and careful "slug curation" pays off. Flourishing plants. If you are having a white moth issue with your brassicas, say the word. I've found a solution to those nibbling larve.
Jennifer, I did, and I ordered them today.🌻Thank you. I have been out of the loop for the past week. Summer went into hyperdrive and will continue that way through July. Not to mention, I had a collision with one of my apple trees! I was wearing my sun hat while watering and didn't see the branch. I am now afraid to put that hat back on. 😂 Seriously. I have the biggest black eye I have ever seen. Dark purple surrounds my entire eye. I bought a black eyepatch on Amazon, thinking that would do the trick for the holiday, but that turned out to be ridiculous. So I wear sunglasses. Geez!!! The things life hands you. I've noticed something odd lately. When reviewing my writing material or crafting certain scenes, weird things happen, such as tooth crowns falling off and black eye accidents. What's up with that?
Living in two worlds, sister. It's not natural. Do something low pressure to re-enter. I take a walk up a steep hill behind my cabin and circle the heights that gives view to the sea. It's only a 40 minute walk but that wind, that view and that work bring me back into my body. Any other suggestions for Kristi?
Week Four, Day ?: I wrote a long piece in the comments last Wednesday and then accidentally deleted it. That knocked the wind out of me completely and I've avoided being here. However, I've been writing and revising. I came down to Saint Jean de Luz June 22 with the intention of a self-imposed writing residency. Trying to be reasonable and not set myself up, I made a structure for myself that included twice a day long walks and 2-4 hours of writing. Yesterday, I didn't do the second walk as I was tired. But .. up to last night, I have been mostly revising. Today I've been mostly writing. I have my one hour writing group soon and I've been watching Bones as I have not taken that class. It requires homework which I'm including in my 2-4 hours.
Anyway, this is all to say that even thoough you haven't heard from me, I've been writing. I'm aware of all of you and just knowing you are there keeps me on my toes.
Pause---I took a four day pause. A friend from California flew here on her way home from hiking in Ireland and we walked, talked, had cold meals because it is HOT here, sort of like Jennifer with her son. It was so good to take a pause like that. I slept late in the mornings. I had no idea how tired I was. She has left and I'm back at the computer.
🐦⬛ Week Four, Day Six: Such a great idea, Laura. Whip out old music and get yourself back in the groove (literally). And Tracy, prepping for a road trip while wrestling with those inner questions and challenges. We are with you. And Jill, what a great ear for great dialogue (from the baseball world):
🐦⬛ Week Four, Day Seven: Late to the game today but here. A bit of a hangover from mother/son time. You forget how intense having a guest can be).
A good night of sleep and I'm at it again. Two chapters yesterday (after he left) and they presented a beautiful opportunity for breaking time, which is my favorite kind of writing. I did it first in Show Me the Way, with the opening story by the same title. I wrote about having my son and then about my mother's death. I used images and transitions to shift through time. I did the same in The One Year Marriage published in the Norton Anthology called Knitting Yarns. I'll attach that link here: (https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/vz64cpmqtbio3v9s0my23/One-Year-Marriage.pdf?rlkey=q1ka9fcz1smn6zpt87gnj8i6b&dl=0).
Breaking time means laying two stories in one core timeline. So now I'm doing it in the novel only instead of a flashback model, I have two POV characters pushing time forward and stopping each of these progressions at a crucial, tension-filled moment. It's hard writing but so much fun. This is kind-of what I live for as a writer and geek out on.
I will finish this book during this challenge so...on ward!
🐦⬛ Week Four, Day One: Confession time. I dropped the ball on you guys today. I woke up late, had to deal with garden stuff, had a class and then all the class stuff after and well...tick ⏰ tock...didn't get here until 12!
Okay. Okay. Here I am and I'm asking our week four question:
HOW IS EVERYONE DOING? Let's check in.
I'll start: I don't want to finish this book! I care too much about these characters and now really bad things are about to happen them. know I can do this but I kind of hate it. But I must, but I don't want to, but I must...okay. Off to write now. ✍️ Suggestions?
Week Four, Day Two - I am in a big push to leave for my road trip to California tomorrow (from Tacoma Wa). I'll be visiting my daughter in Davis for a few days then going to Sonoma for an in person opening for the Color of Women art process I'm in. I'll be gone for two weeks so now the whelming feeling is upon me. I have finally stepped into a good flow of making progress in getting caught up on my gardens. Now, I feel the anxiety of leaving with so much still undone, knowing how the vegetation will continue to overtake....... I breathe through the feelings, releasing, accepting, moving........
I've been writing through it all, at least little bits here and there. I will have time on this trip to write more without any home obligations. That has a refreshing feeling.
I really like the Week Four Mission: Embrace the Wrestling! This speaks to me directly in how I've been feeling in all aspects of my life. I feel like I am in a big wrestling match, with me in one corner of the ring up against a variety of 'opponents'. As I wrote that last line, my first thought was, "the opponents are actually my allies in disguise". Then I thought of #1 of the Mission - "Thank Your Guardians". Yes! I like that! I'll be thanking my guardians and exploring who these opponent/allies are in the ring with me.
Safe travels!
You'll be near me in your travels. I live in Rohnert Park, halfway between Petaluma and Santa Rose. I hope you enjoy your time in beautiful Sonoma. How splendid you're taking time to devote to your art process.
I’m with you…Writing through the wrestling matches. Good luck with the art process.
🐦⬛ Week Four, Day Three: Hi all and it's update time. Three new chapters, two revised. A huge day of writing that had a slow start but a strong finish. When nearing the end of a draft, it's always this way. The pure momentum of the whole crashes down and you cannot help create in a fast, intense way. It's like biking down a steep hill. After a while, you have to stop pedaling and let gravity take you. This is a small excerpt from my mean little antagonist after she failed in her attempt to kill a priest:
Overhead, a hawk wheels toward the river, shrieks, and then drops into the water with wings pressed close to its sides.
Enrica startles back.
The hawk splashes into the water and is gone under.
Regaining her position, she holds to the rail and in a hard beat of wings, the hawk is out with a silver fish gripped in its talons. Clear droplets of the Belbo rain off the bird’s feathers, and it’s claws, and the fin of the convulsing fish.
He’s got it, Enrica thinks, admiring the story before her. The rise of the brave bird with his quarry but then the fish slips free and tumbles head over tail over head. At the surface, the fish into the water. Gone.
“Ah,” Enrica calls and shakes a fist in protest.
The great hawk flies high and higher still, circled and banks along the river once more.
Next time, Enrica thinks. Next time you’ll get your reward.
I hope you all have great travels and do good work out there! XO
That's a compelling scene!
Love this!
Very dear! How many years I've worked on this particular scene? Don't even ask. 🤣
🐦⬛ Week Four, Day Five: My son is here after a four day retreat. We are laughing, catching up on everything, walking on the beach, eating great food, kayaking. Basically, a fabulous two day break from the writing. Which I kinda of need.
When we have momentum of a project, it's so hard to stop. But a pause is a good thing. A pause to get perspective. A pause to get insight. A pause to just breathe a little and be...
When do you "pause" and what fruit is on the other side of that pause?
Don't forget our next meeting. July 2 @ 9:00 a.m. I'll get that link out to everyone soon.
I've definitely had a pause helping my daughter through the diagnostic process, which is ongoing, and taking a little road trip with her and my granddaughters in the midst of it. I was feeling totally disconnected from writing when we returned, but then I remembered I have several old CDs I used to use in the '90s that are good for putting me in a state of mind that enables me to relax and focus. I tried one the other day and drafted a prologue for my new novel. I like having a prologue in place, but based on my experience with my first two novels, I expect it'll be quite different by the time I finish the novel.
Brilliant. Sound is such a powerful driver. This from a terrific handout in Bones on setting: "Emotions, however, are often affected by what we hear. Think of the effects of a favorite piece of music, the sound of a person's voice, the whistle of a train. In conversation, tone of voice is a more reliable indicator of mood and meaning than words alone. Sounds can make us shudder, shiver, jump -- or relax and smile. Scene that include sounds -- fingers scraping a blackboard, the distant baying of a hound -- are more likely to evoke an emotional response."
It's so easy to forget to bring in more senses than just sight when writing. I want to keep sound, smell, taste, the physical feel of things in mind next time I sit down to write.
🐦⬛ Week Four, Day Two: Read this last night in The Habit of Being which is a collection of letters from the remarkable Flannery O'Connor. I've posted a few times here about her (and over at Blackbird's Lit Lessons):
"When you write a novel, if you have been honest about it and if your conscience is clear, then it seems you have to leave the rest in God's hands. When the book leaves your hands, it belongs to God. He may use it to save a few souls or to try a few others, but I think that for the writer to worry about this is to take over God's business." ~ to Eileen Hall, 10 Mar. 1956.
I love this woman.
📝 Off I go to work on the hardest part of this book...wading in hip deep mud right now but do see the shore a ways off.
🐦⬛ Week Four, Day Six: My son is still with me, so it's hard to be in the writing here but I did get stunning news that an editor I deeply admire has agreed to read the final version of my novel. I shared my anxiety with her about the word count and she told me to keep everything in place so she can see it. She wrote: "Nobody told Dickens how many words his books should be. I think one should read before one suggests cutting." Oh how I love her. Talk about a wrestling match i my head because it is long. She's got a great mind, so well read, edits all the biggies for the big 5 and knows her stuff. A NYT Bestseller in her own right, too.
I couldn't be happier. 🤸🏻🤸🏻🤸🏻
Safe travels to Tracy and welcome back to Kristi, Sara, and Laura. I'm flying through your terrific adds to the conversation. Remember out meeting is coming, Wednesday! See you all there.
Yay! Exciting news. Congratulations!
I know. I'm thrilled.
🐦⬛ Week Four, Day Four: The challenge holds us, though most are traveling. Jill and I hold the hearth fires burning (thank you, Jill!)
Yesterday's writing went well. 1800 words forward in the story and it would have been more, except I thought about what I teach (STAY IN SCENE) and rearranged what was a FB series that I was creating--mostly to be lazy--and so it goes.
When are you lazy in your creative writing? When do you continue a habit (telling, overuse of adverbs, soft verb) that you know you need to break while telling yourself, "I'll fix this later"?
Happy writing! ✍️
I have seen this kind of lazy in my writing and tell myself I will get into it more later. I am aware of it more this summer. I hear my teachers saying..."get closer."
Traveling is a good time to listen for great lines. I do this while watching baseball at night too.
I love this, Jill. Full immersion as a writer...seeing the great use of language all around you. (and Sara S loves baseball, too). What's the best line you've heard in baseball-lingo this week?
Can't wait to hear Jill's baseball lines. Can anyone top Yogi Berra?
A couple I noted recently from baseball.
Create your own urgency.
Home run hit pierced the sky.
Kind of adore both and it fits with your super power: Dialogue!
I’m inspired! The first half of the challenge my writing came in fits and starts interspersed with medical pauses and travels days. Now I am in the most organized and “to do” list free place I’ve ever been in my adult life. All I have to do for the next two weeks is eat, take my fertility injections, and write. I’m committing to 1,000 words a day for the next 21 days! And I’m open to more than that of the flow really starts to roll!
21,000 words on the other side. It's a solid plan!
Week four, day two. I'm in the wrestling match after getting feedback in Studio. I had this notion that I was only hitting a surface level with my story. Today, I spent more time in study than writing. I'm grateful for feedback that helps me dive deeper rather than spinning in my own thoughts.
Oh no! When we dive in the water, we are always cutting through the surface but also touching on the depths and yours are there without question. Let me count the ways, the detailed description of Natalie as one way and the protag as another. The comparison to Mom (great tell), the push back "What are you hiding from?" which asks a sharp and surprising question. That is the hot center of...not a shallow scene...but a deep one. Right now, it could be you just mark it, see it, and nod to it. And then keep writing at level of scene, meaning, sense, and clarity (think of this as your muscle building rep work) and when you circle back, you'll know what to do.
You've got this, Jill. You do! Head up.
I just finished an edit/update to my scene submission. I love it so much more now that it includes more depth and cuts to the action. Thanks for your help and encouragement.
Right here with you, sister. Running at your side. 🏃🏻♀️🏃🏻♀️
Yeah, definitely muscle building. It was so surprising to me to hear the feedback of the deeper issues that I didn’t see before and I wrote it. 😂 This is all so good and helpful. I have researched character development and dimensions today. It proved to be a great refresher of where the protagonist is going and stages of growth. Thank you Jennifer!
(Looks like it's just us, Jill! Did we make a wrong turn? Where are all the other challengers? 🤷🏻♀️...No matter. I'm still running. And so are you ;-)
Hi, Wonderful People! I am 55,496 words into stringing my memoir together, with occasional deletions and edits in my draft.
My garden is coming along well; there's a lot of work to be done, and I love doing it. One of my favorite times these days is enjoying coffee outside on warm mornings with my husband, along with our two Westies and our cat, Bohdi. Surrounded by the beauty of flowers, trees, veggies, and singing birds. Ahh, that's what I call a good life!
I have been inspired this past week by an old song that I came across and wanted to share a few of the lyrics with you, in the hope that they will inspire you a little as well.
Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words
That you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten
Natasha Beddingfield from the song Unwritten
Great share. I'm looking it up. And I'm with you, Kristi. I love taking my coffee out and looking over the daily growth. Now is the time the results of all the soil work, and seed starting and careful "slug curation" pays off. Flourishing plants. If you are having a white moth issue with your brassicas, say the word. I've found a solution to those nibbling larve.
Yes! White Moth buggers everywhere. I would love to hear your solution!
Check your email, gardener-girl. 👩🏻🌾
Jennifer, I did, and I ordered them today.🌻Thank you. I have been out of the loop for the past week. Summer went into hyperdrive and will continue that way through July. Not to mention, I had a collision with one of my apple trees! I was wearing my sun hat while watering and didn't see the branch. I am now afraid to put that hat back on. 😂 Seriously. I have the biggest black eye I have ever seen. Dark purple surrounds my entire eye. I bought a black eyepatch on Amazon, thinking that would do the trick for the holiday, but that turned out to be ridiculous. So I wear sunglasses. Geez!!! The things life hands you. I've noticed something odd lately. When reviewing my writing material or crafting certain scenes, weird things happen, such as tooth crowns falling off and black eye accidents. What's up with that?
Living in two worlds, sister. It's not natural. Do something low pressure to re-enter. I take a walk up a steep hill behind my cabin and circle the heights that gives view to the sea. It's only a 40 minute walk but that wind, that view and that work bring me back into my body. Any other suggestions for Kristi?
Oh, I like those lyrics, Kristi! I can picture them propelling you forward as you write.
Week Four, Day ?: I wrote a long piece in the comments last Wednesday and then accidentally deleted it. That knocked the wind out of me completely and I've avoided being here. However, I've been writing and revising. I came down to Saint Jean de Luz June 22 with the intention of a self-imposed writing residency. Trying to be reasonable and not set myself up, I made a structure for myself that included twice a day long walks and 2-4 hours of writing. Yesterday, I didn't do the second walk as I was tired. But .. up to last night, I have been mostly revising. Today I've been mostly writing. I have my one hour writing group soon and I've been watching Bones as I have not taken that class. It requires homework which I'm including in my 2-4 hours.
Anyway, this is all to say that even thoough you haven't heard from me, I've been writing. I'm aware of all of you and just knowing you are there keeps me on my toes.
Pause---I took a four day pause. A friend from California flew here on her way home from hiking in Ireland and we walked, talked, had cold meals because it is HOT here, sort of like Jennifer with her son. It was so good to take a pause like that. I slept late in the mornings. I had no idea how tired I was. She has left and I'm back at the computer.
And, finally I can come on Zoom July 2nd. Yay!
Bravo, Sara. I want to know how you do it at +70. Impressive! We missed your voice.
🐦⬛ Week Four, Day Six: Such a great idea, Laura. Whip out old music and get yourself back in the groove (literally). And Tracy, prepping for a road trip while wrestling with those inner questions and challenges. We are with you. And Jill, what a great ear for great dialogue (from the baseball world):