The Writer’s Toolbox: Walking

One of the number one requirements of a commercial fiction career is that you must reliably produce [...]]]> No one here will be surprised at this post that I wrote for  Writer Unboxed.   I knew some of you would enjoy reading it, but keep forgetting to post a link here.

The Writer’s Toolbox: Walking

One of the number one requirements of a commercial fiction career is that you must reliably produce good material, year in and year out. Reliable and good are not always an easy combination. To do it, a writer has to take care of her body, her mind, and her spirit.

Over the years, I’ve found many ways to do that, but the mainstay is walking. I walk every morning, and take long walks on weekends and evenings; I walk around the cities I visit when I travel. I’ve done a marathon and a half over two days (Avon walk) and twice now have walked over a hundred miles in the course of a week. Walking is my passion (which you might have guessed from the title of my blog, A Writer Afoot).

There is a long history of writers and walkers—Wordsworth is said to have walked 175,000 miles in his lifetime and Thoreau was given to 20 mile rambles through the forests and over the hills. Walking is done at human speed. It gives us time to see, to think, to ponder and wonder. It gently releases endorphins and keeps the joints fluid. Brenda Ueland wrote:

If you would continue to be alone for a long time, amblingly swinging your legs for many miles and living in the present, then you will be rewarded: thoughts, good ideas, plots for novels, longings, decisions, revelations will come to you

In other words: walking fills the well.

I spent the winter and spring writing a book that tested me, made me reach harder and higher than I ever have, and by the end of May, when I finished the last of the revisions and finally polished it to the place I wanted it to be, I was bone-dry. The girls in the basement crashed, refusing to give me one more word. Continue Reading »

Monthly blog post up at Writer Unboxed:  The Last Month of a Book (or “I am pregnant beyond all ability to describe it” ). Which I wrote Monday. 

Tuesday morning, the Pikes Peak Writers Conference called with an emergency. One of their keynote speakers is unable to fly and [...]]]> Two news tidbits this morning: 

Monthly blog post up at Writer Unboxed:  The Last Month of a Book (or “I am pregnant beyond all ability to describe it” ). Which I wrote Monday. 

Tuesday morning, the Pikes Peak Writers Conference called with an emergency. One of their keynote speakers is unable to fly and they asked if I could possibly fill in.  I said yes so fast I think the organizer was startled, but I think I’m starved for the company of my tribe, and it will be good to drink it all in, and for some reason, teaching and speaking energizes me.  So it will be fun.

But you can laugh at me if you want.  I understand. The universe is chuckling, too.  I like that about the universe!

Anyone in Colorado Springs this weekend?

Read the blog here: http://writerunboxed.com/2009/03/25/the-pace-of-you/

Things I’m considering: when to schedule more [...]]]> Wrote a piece on reclaiming the joy of writing for my monthly blog at Writer Unboxed today.  If you’re in the doldrums, check it out.  If you’re not in the doldrums and know how to help others out, please go and tell everyone how you do it.

Things I’m considering: when to schedule more Voice and a (revised) version of Girls in the Basement. If you are burning to take them, email me.

Also thinking about a group (Facebook group, private email, blog?) devoted to art and balance in someway.  Nothing super organized, but it seems to be one of those things we all have trouble with.  If you would be willing to help me, I need two or three people.   Email me on that, too.   If you have suggestions on the best place to gather, please put them in the comments.  

Brilliant Colorado day, BTW.  All of you frozen folks might want to schedule Colorado sunshine into your planners.

Now the timer is going off (see how good I am!) and I must get off the internet and finish my novella.

http://writerunboxed.com/2008/10/08/natural-magic-inspiration-from-the-animal-world/