I think there are two types of writers, the architects, and the gardeners. The architects plan everything ahead of time, like an architect building a house…. They have the whole thing designed and blueprinted out before they even nail the first board up. The gardeners dig a hole, drop in a seed and water it….
Exchanging Duty for Playfulness
En mai, fais ce qu’il te plait.” ~ French expression (“In May, do what makes you happy.”) I spent the majority of my childhood engaged in imaginative play. My sister, our friends, and I created elaborate scenarios for whatever we decided to play. We might spend several days building a tree fort out of scraps…
The Wild Spring of Your Creativity
Spring work is going on with joyful enthusiasm.” ~ John Muir I was born in the spring just as the dogwood trees began blooming in the mountains. Lacing the green hillsides with lobed, white flowers, stretched out from terraced limbs, the arrival of flowering dogwoods prompts a renewal of a childlike knowing that I am…
Creating the Future
I sat, scrolling through Twitter one morning, reading the dark news du jour. My news feed was a car wreck of unfolding horrors, and even though my heart was racing, I remained fixated on the screen. I am so glad I did. With one swipe up with my forefinger, an image appeared that sent an…
My Shack in Woodstock
I went up to Woodstock and just read, and read, and read, and read, for five years.” ~ Joseph Campbell I think about Joseph Campbell at least once a day. The first time I read Campbell’s explanation of the Hero’s Journey, I was sitting on the floor in front of the fire, propped up against…
Follow Your Creation’s Lead
The question is not what you look at, but what you see.” ~ Henry David Thoreau The other day I tallied up the approximate number of batches of puttanesca sauce I have made over the course of my life. I landed on somewhere around the number 3,500! By Malcolm Gladwell standards, I have hit mastery…
