Finding That Quiet Place

Yesterday, I read an article about a famous author, and in the interview he talked about finding that quiet place where you can work productively. It’s the same quiet place where your mind goes in order to read and comprehend something to its fullest. Writing is hard work. It takes a great effort to put down the thing that is in your head, and to have it come out anything resembling the dream you had when it was percolating. It occurs to me that it’s the quietness I have been avoiding. But I am almost ready to try to find it again. 

 I do realize that it’s going to take effort, that it isn’t something that’s going to just magically happen, that I have to make it happen. Creativity doesn’t just fall from the sky. A writer doesn’t simply channel her muse, although when it’s going well it sometimes feels that way. But to get it going well takes practice, and immersion, and getting quiet enough with yourself to hear yourself think. 

This part used to never take much work. I lived a lonely life, had plenty of time to listen to my thoughts, too much time, in fact. But man, was I productive. So it’s a tradeoff, and one that has been unappealing to me for quite a while now for a whole lot of reasons. But I have so much work upstairs to finish. So many things I don’t want to leave half-done. And I’m having spells of feeling unused and lazy, and it’s time to put what little talent I possess back to work. I may have waited too long, and in that case, I suppose I need to know. Maybe nobody wants to hear my stories anymore, or maybe I don’t have it in me to do it anymore. If either scenario is true,  it won’t be the end of the world. I’ve already accomplished far more than most people believed I ever would. 

So, beginning today, I’m going to take out some of these unfinished manuscripts, look at them with fresh eyes, and get back in practice. There’s lots of sorting and filing and arranging into some kind of order that needs to be done up there. And maybe, just maybe, the act of putting my office back together will spur something in me. Fingers crossed. 

Onward ....