Some days it’s good to be a writer. Words flow onto the page – just penned a national feature for an equine magazine before dinner – and I get this deep inner glee from filling a vast, gaping white page with little black squiggles.
Ideas make their way onto paper. Are fleshed out. Start to make sense to someone, hopefully, other than myself.
It’s been a crazy, messed up, multi-directional world lately, and while sometimes my head spins and I just want everything to stop – slow down – writing allows me to add structure. To marshall my own thoughts and “get it done.”
And while lately articles have been written in my head first before being reborn onto paper – of late, on morning runs or in the gym (another national fly fishing-related conservation story coming your way… courtesy of the compound rowing machine at the gym down the street) there is still some internal order to it.
Most days. Some day’s there is no order at all and adventure – and chaos – reigns.
On those days I sit on the floor with a big whiteboard and try to devise a master plan that encompasses everything. My bed and most of my household may be in storage on the other side of the country, but you bet I have my planning board with me. It’s a tactical necessity.
Priorities.
On those days I look at the list of everything I want to do in the coming years – everything I want to experience – and feel the tinglings of panic. It’s a lot. And I think why the hell can’t I be “normal” like the rest of the twenty-five year old women I meet, getting married and having kids and settling down.
And then I’m really glad I’m not “normal.”
There are exciting developments in the wings. Developments that could go so many directions.
There’s work to be done.
Tags: Random Bits
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
It’s never fun to be normal. Keep up the good work. I enjoy you and your brother’s writings. I wish I was that adventurous and creative.Have a great weekend!
It’s very fun to never be normal… life outside the box.
I like to think everyone is adventurous and creative somewhere underneath. Get out and play; bring the camera and a notebook. You never know what will come of it!
Thanks, Ray. Take care.
In addition to the other stuff I do for them, I regularly write little 200 word reviews of CDs of bands coming to town for our local independent weekly. It’s a fun challenge, trying to convey an impression in so few words, and still keep it fresh from everything I’ve already done. Sometimes it’s REALLY hard. Others it practically writes itself. It’s a good exercise.
I love having to write in a short space. When I was a staff newspaper writer, there were always little bits and clips that needed writing. It’s a stellar exercise in the art – I know I sometimes fall into the temptation of “writing to fill.” Lately, though, I’ve been coming over on word count, and I’m choosing to take it as a good sign. There’s always room to edit down. 🙂
Enjoy the winter in Mizzou!
Be careful what you wish for. It is my experience that if you just be who you are that the right things happen at the right time. When you try to force life it is like trying to force a cast and things get all tangled up. I miss seeing you around the shop. Maybe I’ll run into you some day when I’m visiting my brother in Everet.
Good luck:)
Things do happen at the right time – and it’s been an interesting week for that. It’s funny how things come together when we let go and chill a bit, isn’t it?
Really miss Craig and it’s people. Please give your wife my best – hope you guys are getting some days in on the river!
Stay warm this winter!