 Taking time to relax over summer is what we do.
After a year of hard work this 'down time' is vital to our health and wellbeing. So far this summer I've spent a lot of time hanging out on the deck, watching the birds hop around the front yard and frolic in their bird bath, reading, visiting with friends ... But I haven't done any writing. Well, not on paper on or the computer, apart from Blogs and work related items. I'm writing in my head at the moment. Writers do tend to sit and stare at things for long periods of time. Other people think we're slacking off but in actual fact, we're working, thinking about our writing, formulating plots, characters, turning points, dialogue, thinking of just the right words to express what we want to say. Right now, I'm doing a lot of thinking about the memoir I'm writing about my Mom. This process is enhanced by my rediscovery of forgotten family artifacts. I've been unpacking boxes places in storage years ago. Each box is a treasure trove of photos, scrapbooks, pieces of art work, and little things Mom displayed on shelves and walls. Each item provokes memory, which inspires the writerly thoughts: where does this fit into my book? Does it belong in there at all? What story is attached to this thing? Who touched this item long ago? How did it come into our family in the first place? Before we begin to write, there is thought. A lot of it, in my case. I have to think it through, ponder it all, sift it gently in my mind, filter out the essential elements, the 'maybes' and the 'absolutely nots'.
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