blue sky pine

Out walking the back field this morning after feeding and throwing hay, I began to pace off the area where I'm planning to put a small barn with studio loft. This will involve taking down some trees, so I walked the fence line trying to decide where the best site is that would take down the least number. I don't like removing trees.

The place I'd originally visualized is not the best - if I shift it there's a larger, flatter, clearer space - but the loft windows would not open onto the view I wanted inside the field.

More pondering needed.

I also want a 3-bay shed with hay loft and found a plan for one last night that is exactly what I was thinking of. This morning I walked it off as well. I can visualize the lay-out but once again, it requires tree removal and careful spacing because of our need to allow for horse trailer turn-around as well as dump-truck access for delivery of shavings.

I love thinking through these things. We can't do them all right away, but imagining, in great detail, the possibilities, makes me happy.

the brother

Not to be forgotten, the handsome, the aristocratic, Dickens Edward Wickens.

our own true song

Finding our own true song is about relinquishing the burden of ego and the false choruses that it sings.





...our own deep song is forever singing its beautiful melody beyond the reach of our ears. When we act sincerely, when we speak from the heart, when our passion is engaged, the true song is heard in all its glory.

--from Caitlin Matthews' The Celtic Spirit

the sisters

Keats and Osage, embodying mystery, magic, and independence.

what came next

I could ramble on about this part but the kernel of it is this: I dedicated a regular time and place for writing the book.

The first draft of the first novel was written over the course of a year, every Thursday night from 6-9:30 or so, at a little table in a coffee house. At that point in time, I couldn't write at home and I couldn't write in my office. The child energy was too strong at home and the client energy too strong in my office.

This worked very well for that year, when I was writing first draft. When it came time to revise, the noise of the coffee house became too distracting, and I decided to push myself to try out my nice quiet office for the revision work.

When several Thursday afternoon clients finished up therapy processes, instead of putting new clients in I added THAT time to my writing time. Which then meant I had from 1 p.m. until 9:30 or so on Thursdays! It was a full writing "day."

I signed up for a 6-week critique group with Peggy Payne and from there formed my own group of writers who wanted to meet weekly to seriously critique our books and make them better.

I went to a writers' conference and got jazzed about the idea of querying agents.

Etc. Etc. One step at a time, but the essential thing was devoting time to the book - not trying to squeeze it in whenever I could, but making room for it and prioritizing it highly enough that it had a prominent place in my life.

One note: I seemed to have stored up a ton of material during the years I didn't write, so that when I finally started it was like a geyser. It hasn't yet stopped. I have three complete mss now and several more outlined, waiting in the wings for me to get to them. While many writers struggle with writers' block, I seem to struggle with "can't stop." (which is its own problem, especially when one needs to set the ms aside to get some distance and refuel) Point being: we all have our little issues that interfere. It's just a matter of learning what they are and figuring out how to work through them!

Ask away if I have left something out or triggered questions.