We are still in flip flops around here. It’s October and officially fall. Except…, for the next seven days, the forecast will be mild enough to keep wearing summer clothes. For instance, I ran in shorts and a tank top this morning. Yes, it’s that nice, and I’m glad. It lets me have a few more days to sit outside on a porch with my laptop, listening to the crazy call of cicadas screeching from the branches above my head. I am still immersed in summer like days, and I love it.
Time has gone by, the way it does, and soon, I won’t be able to open the windows, and let an early morning breeze refresh the house. As a writer, I like to have all these little nooks and crannies to work from, and in the warmer weather, I’m offered more space to spread out. There’s the main porch, where the morning’s are cool enough to sit, coffee cup steaming by my side, caffeine opening up my brain, the quietness while all the neighbors are at work. I can re-read what I wrote the day before, make some minor changes, and think about what comes next in the story. There’s the smaller side porch, just off the kitchen for the afternoon, when I do the “heavy lifting,” the laying down of new words. This little spot keeps the sun off of me until the battery gives out and I have to go in and recharge. The disruption at that point tends to make me realize I need a break, so me and the little guy might go for a walk.
As the weather grows cooler, I’ll still go outside up to a certain point. For me, mid fifties, I can still work. Below that, my fingers don’t want to move like they should and neither does my brain. I’m too busy thinking about how cold I am. (my Canadian friends if reading this, are laughing their rear ends off about now…since they wear shorts when it’s in the fifties) Hey, I’m from the south so I have perpetually thin blood, I guess, and it doesn’t take much for me to decide sitting by a fire is much nicer.
Either way, I’ve always loved the change of seasons. As I think about hunkering down in a warm, cozy spot as the weather gets colder, I also think ahead and imagine where I could be, say by Christmas time, with this latest work in progress. For me, every single thing is tied to the writing. The weather, the day to day chores, our vacations and upcoming social events, and the holidays, I see it all ahead, but it’s the writing that is always in the forefront. I chase it, track it down, wheedle a few more minutes with it, however I can. I can’t imagine it any other way.
Can you?
Perhaps writing is not something we do, as much as it is something we are.
I cannot imagine living my life without the ability to share through the written word.
It is still warm for us as well.
The seasons here in New England are chapters in my life. Some are breathtakingly beautiful and some are very gray and dark indeed. I love them all.
When we visited Maine, in the summer, the days would be in the nineties sometimes…but the nights? Always required a blanket. I loved the weather there – but of course it was in the summer and only two weeks or so. I never got a good dose of their winters. My mother said when she was growing up snow would be as high as the roof – they couldn’t see out the windows.
***For me, every single thing is tied to the writing***
I agree!! Xx
I write in the shower too, I should have said. 🙂 XX
Superb.
I heard a Fab story. This FAMOUS writer (forgot who is was) Anyhow, he was at a dinner party with his wife. Later on….His wife called the host aside and whispered, “Please don’t think my husband is rude. He is writing.”
LOVE THAT! Xxx
@ Inner Chick…I do too! I always tell my husband “I’m never in the present moment. Do you think anyone notices?” I can always blame my glazed look on the glass of wine I suppose… Ha! XX
I love your blog design! I recently started writing full-time myself, and as we search for our next house (still a couple of years off, but we like to look!), I am amazed how much a little room like a sunroom or a screened porch means in my search. I keep telling my husband–I need a place with a review in which to write!
Thank you so much! When I set it up, I had a basic design from WordPress, then I upgraded to this…and there are more tools I could use, but I can’t justify that yet – must get a book sold before I incur more costs… 🙂 It’s true about the space to write, and having a spot you can call your own is priceless when it comes to writing. As you probably know, one can write just about anywhere if necessary, but it just makes it all the more better if you can have a view!