Thursday, March 21, 2013

Leaving the well plenty full

Yesterday we had a snow day. The university closed, though my husband still had to make it in to work. For the first time in months, I had a moment alone in the house while my son napped for an hour. And oh, what an hour. I got to write! I rarely get to write nowadays, so it was a pretty special moment.  

Because I have so little time, I wasn't tackling one of my many novels. I just started to write out a little story that has been floating around in my mind lately. It's a fantasy-esk world with a King who is marked for assassination, so they hire another assassin, apprehended a few months back and scheduled for execution, to come in and try to stop the king from being killed. Of course, it's a lovely dark-haired woman, and the King is getting on a little in years. So yes, it's a bit of a love story. But hey, it wasn't a novel, just a little story getting the lion's share of my thoughts lately. 

And then, just as I was starting page 3, my son woke from his hour long nap and I had to stop. Just like that. That's the difficult thing with writing, and one of the reasons I don't do it much, even when Victor does nap. Just as I'm getting into something good, I have to stop, regardless. It's not easy. It's like being starved for water and then, just as you get a few drops, it's taken away from you. My body feels an ache at being torn away from my writing. That's how much writing is a part of me.

But it gives me a chance to think of a writing quote I once heard during my creative writing class. I think the author who said it took it from someone else, so I'll probably get it wrong and won't even try to quote word for word. But essentially the idea is; it's easier to renew water from the well if you leave some in, and harder if you tap it dry. So, if you're writing, stop before you get to the end of the words running through your head, so you can pick up with something already in mind when you start again. And that's been very true for me over my 20 years of writing (yes, I started writing at 9 years old). 

But over this past year, with being a new mom, the well is overflowing. I need to write once in a while, even if it's something minor and just for me. Without writing in my life, I sink slowly into a bit of melancholy, so slowly I don't even realize it until suddenly, after feeling a bit blah for a while, I find myself writing and my mood is considerably improved. Even if it's just a few pages here and there that probably lead to nothing, it's important to seek refuge in the words once in a while. I just wish I didn't have to leave quite so much in the well lately. 

p.s. if anyone would like to me to post some writing here, just let me know!

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