Picture This

I spent a few days last week at Litchfield Beach. I went for a meeting about an event I’m doing, but stayed an extra day to sit in the sun and try to knock out a nasty cold I’ve been battling. And as usually happens when I sit and do nothing, I saw story ideas everywhere. So I took pictures to help me remember the feeling of sitting on that beach with the wind blowing and the tourists mostly gone. I’ll use them not only to remember, but also for writing exercises if I need a little jolt of inspiration. I always take my camera with me for that very reason. I’m not a great photographer, but I enjoy trying to create a story with my pictures.

There was one picture that I tried over and over again to get but just wasn’t quick enough. Butterflies are migrating over the marshes right now, hundreds of yellow and orange and white butterflies, looking like flower petals blown from the sky. It was so amazing I really wanted a shot of it. But apparently butterflies in migration don’t land very often, and it’s nearly impossible for someone with my limited abilities to take a picture of a flying butterfly. I did get an idea for a story though, and have filed it away for when I need a break from “the big thing.”

Below are a few of the many pictures I took. Feel free to find stories there, too.

Get Your Words (and Wine) On

On Sunday, October 14, 2012, from 2:00pm to 5:00pm, Glass House Winery will host the third annual Words & Wine, a fundraiser for WriterHouse, a nonprofit writing center in Charlottesville, VA.

Before I go into details about Words & Wine, let me tell you a bit about WriterHouse. If you’ve read my posts for a while, you know how important I believe community is to writers. For the past four and a half years, WriterHouse has served as a community, a gathering place, and a family for hundreds of writers in central Virginia. They’ve hosted readings by famous and not-so-famous writers, they’ve offered classes and seminars, and they’ve welcomed writers (and readers) to come together and find kindred spirits. I’ve been involved with WriterHouse since the beginning, and the people I’ve met there have enriched my life, writing and otherwise, more than I can say.

But it takes money to run a writing center. So Words & Wine was born. Words, because obviously those of us involved with WriterHouse love words, and Wine, because, well, even non-writers love wine, right?

Go out and support a great cause, and have some fun while you’re doing it. I promise you’ll have a great time. Admission of $30 per person includes wine tasting, a complimentary wine glass, light hors d’oeuvres, and one raffle ticket. I’ll make it easy for you – just click this link to get to the WriterHouse website and purchase tickets using the PayPal button.

But, you say, I live 500 miles away and really can’t swing airfare just for a one day fundraiser. No problem. You can still help the cause by purchasing raffle tickets for some really amazing prizes, including three vacation destinations: France, Santa Fe, and Vermont. And why should you support a writing center that you’ll never be able to go to? Well, say you finish that Great American Novel, and you are working on your book tour. And you remember that there is a terrific writing center in Virginia that loves to host readings for new writers. Or maybe you don’t write, but you love to read. Maybe that donation will help keep the doors open so that your future favorite book can be written there. Or how about this? Supporting the creation and appreciation of literature is the mission of WriterHouse, and you are all about that. Whatever the reason, consider donating.

Maybe I’ll see you there, if I can arrange to make it up. But even if I don’t, you can bet I’ll be buying raffle tickets. Where better to finish my WIP than in France?

Don’t Let Your Mental Muscles Atrophy

Writing is like exercise. The more you do it, the easier it is. Or rather, the easier it is to make yourself do it. My friends who run (no, I don’t know from personal experience) say that when you are in the habit of running, it becomes part of your day, like eating or sleeping. Miss a day or a few days, and you start feeling bad. Miss a week, and it’s easier to find reasons not to do it. The longer you go, the harder it is to put on those running shoes and get out there.

It’s the same with writing. When you are in the habit of writing, it’s just easier to sit at the computer and face the blank screen. Your mental muscles are strong, your endurance is high, your confidence unshakable. Miss a day, and you feel uncomfortable and guilty. Stay away from it for too long, and it gets easier and easier to avoid.

I’ve been away from this blog for a month. It started as one missed week, and that bothered me. But one week quickly became two, then three, and suddenly a whole month had gone by. I’d like to say I was too busy working on the novel to find time to knock out 400 words for the blog. In truth, I let myself be distracted, and took some time off from writing in all its forms. While I jotted down sentences here and there, and wrote for short periods of time, I wasn’t spending long hours in the chair. Life had thrown a few distractions at me, and my head was not in my work. And it’s OK to take a break every now and then. Sometimes we need to take time off and “fill the well” as my friend Kristen-Paige says. But I stayed away too long. I took so much time off that it became intimidating to think about using those out-of-practice mental muscles again.

So this blog post is my mental warm-up, my stretch before the run. This afternoon I’ll get back to the real work. It will be harder than it should be, but that’s my own fault, and I’ll work through it. Those flabby muscles will have to be built back up, and the only way to do that is to write.