A Post

...or pondering the writing life

I have been awake since 3am…

I write every day.

Every single day.

I write in cow camp, in hotel rooms, on airplanes, while sitting on creekbanks bundled in a sleeping bag. In guest rooms, from the passenger seat of the car, in cafes and coffee shops, with grandkids in my lap.

Writing is my Life Work, my practice, my habit, my therapy, my discipline.

Our actions determine our identity.

These bold statements may puzzle my faithful readers who are now asking, “But woman, where have you been?”

Those who have taken one of my workshops or my writing courses know that I don’t believe in writer’s block. My problem is rarely a deficit of ideas. The ideas have been coming fast and furious, just like the daily news, but I have had a hard time catching, holding, weaving, defining the tendrils, whisps, and threads that have been spinning around my head. I show up daily, start and stop, grasp and gasp.

Those who have taken one of my workshops or my writing courses also know that I am not a fan of passive consumption of content created by someone else. Of course, I listen to music, sometimes visit a podcast, and am a voracious reader. And I, like all artists, seek inspiration, most frequently by spending time without walls or windows. But I am cautious. If someone tells me how “inspired” they are by consuming content, my response is… show me. Show me the output from that inspiration. Inspiration with no utilization is masturbation.

This morning in the hours before dawn the mess of octopus arms and earworms and Big Talk and all came together and thunked me on the head hard enough to wake me up. For an hour and a half I let the ideas bubble and coalesce. I listened to the old dog whine from his warm bed in front of the radiant heater in my office. I listened to the ranch manager get up, make coffee, and go to the barn. I listened to Oreo (the rooster) start crowing, more watch dog than alarm clock, best one we have out here. I listened to the percolator perk. I let the ideas get all messy and thready and then come back together. Finally, the alarm clock sang and I got up to start putting all those ideas down on paper. With a pen.

Later in the weekend, I hope to get it all written on the screen and posted to Substack. Stay tuned.

Just for fun, here is some of the “inspiration” I have been seeking out. Some of it fits into the category, “Things I wish I wrote.” Some of it lifts me up, give me hope.

I just unsaddled a horse, today’s cows moved. I hope to spend some time on a creekbank soon. Where do you go for inspiration?