It is amazing to me how fast the fall is moving into the winter. Seems like I just finished going through my re-entry-into-home-atmosphere-school year phase (always touch and go in my house), and now we are just about to hit Thanksgiving which will be shortly followed by the madness of everything December. I really do not want to think about New Year's resolutions.
Why? Because Fall is always my time for setting new goals. SO far, except for the diet and exercise regime I almost signed in blood, I have been focusing on those things I promised myself I would work toward. That means I have adhered to a regular writing schedule, which has me in my studio working on stories most week day mornings at about 9 AM, and stopping somewhere around 1 PM. I did finally set up my sound machine and, let me tell you, having the white noise of rain, or ocean, or wind to tune everything out does get me to THAT place to lose myself in a story. It is almost as good as spending 4 hours in the shower...
This is what is very funny to me: I do just the ooposite when I draw or paint. THEN I need a TON of external distraction so I work from my heart instead of my head.
Rising River (I wrote about that just a couple of posts ago) was truly a WONDERFUL boost in so many ways. I highly recommend this retreat run by author Jaqueline Davies. I came back a different person in more ways than I would want to bore you with. Here is what I wrote to a friend:
Jackie takes over a whole B and B up hear the Vermont border.
And she brings the chefs with her! There were only about 9 of us plus
Jackie. VERY serious working atmosphere!
I got work done on my YA, and also one-on-one feedback
on my chapter book, which I also am revising. Plus group input on my
picture book.
So, to sum it up: great food, great feedback, great time!
And lots of wine.
So I hope that those of you who set goals every fall, or even every January will think about giving yourself a retreat from the routines of day to day stress. I found it to be a very successful experience. I hope to go again.
That's my break for the morning. Back to the stories. Get back to yours, too.
Hurrah! I'm so glad you did this! Hope you share more about this.
Posted by: Vivian | November 10, 2007 at 08:03 PM