Confession Tuesday... The Writing Life Continues Edition

Yoshino Cherry Tree in Autumn.

Dear Reader,

It has been a week and an ongoing cold since I've last written.

I returned home from Poets on the Coast, inspired and strong.  I went for a 13 mile mountain bike ride, felt incredible, but kept having what I was a bad allergy attack, then wham, the next day I'm down for the count.  A bad virus that has been with me since last Tuesday.  Way too long to feel bad and have no energy.

That said, from my bed and laptop, I've been getting things done.  But what do I really want to do?  Write. Return to my writing life already in progress...  So with that, let's head to the confessional so I can tell you what I'm doing, how I'm feeling, and maybe inspire you to connect with your writing self because I believe the fall is a magical time...

To the confessional--

I confess September begins my writing life.

My daughter returns to school.  The weather whispers cool.  The leaves begin to change and all I want to do is listen to Everything But the Girl's Language of Love (I confess I'm listening to it as I type this).

Normally by this time, my office is clean, my writing studio has blue hydrangeas in it with a bowl of nonpareils.  But because of this cold, papers, books, life is all over the place.

But I'm healing and I'm scheduling writing days on the calendar.  And once they are scheduled, I can't change them.  It's a rule.  A writer's rule.  Put your writing first or it will elude you.  It will be the cat you can never get back in the house.  It will be the bird that circles, but never lands.  It will be the cloud that you will never touch.

Writing must be a priority or you will lose it.  You will lose.

~

I confess I left Poets on the Coast very inspired and with the urge to write.
Meeting other writers and artists is one of the easiest ways to be inspired.

I also left with a huge realization that I want a cool pencil case!

~

I confess I've gone back to organizing my time by Focus days, Admin days & Fun/Spirit Days.

Focus days:  I write.

Admin days: I do all the stuff I have to do--pay bills, run errands, submit, paid work--to have time to write.

Fun/Spirit days: I do all the things that fill me up or that I want to do-- hang with the family, go to an art gallery, read, sit and watch the world go by.

~

I confess there's a concern I now have on my mind that has nothing to do with poetry, but with being a home owner in a rural community.

Basically, our home was built near/on a county easement and if they expand the road to make it wider, we could lose a good portion of our garden, my yoshino cherry tree (see page 37 in Letters from the Emily Dickinson Room) and possible, our garage. (Oh I wish I were kidding!)  Anyway, we've had a lot of unexpected expenses in the last year, so we can't afford for this if it happens.

So if you are the praying type or the meditating type or the type that sends good thoughts-- if you could add my family and I to your prayers and thoughts, especially regarding this project, that our home, garden, driveway, and garage will not be affected by whatever happens.  Thank you.

~

I confess I believe in prayers and good energy.  And many times they are what keep me sane.

~

I confess while the possibility of wider road is a kind of dark cloud I'm trying not to think about and hope for the best (--um, I remind myself that FEAR stands for Future Events Appearing Real), I'm actually thankful for my life, my family and my friends.

Thankful for what I do have, thankful for what they can't touch, thankful for people, not things.  And I can take a nod from poet Mizuta Masahide-- if our garage goes, I'll have a better view of the moon.

Original Haiku--

Barn's burnt down – 
now 
I can see the moon.

17th Century samurai and poet Mizuta Masahide 

~

Life, it all depends how you look at it.

Amen.

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