Jimmy Carter on Christianity in politics

4:28:08 PM      trackback [] 

Two breakfasts and a dinner – a writer's life

This morning I woke up, got dressed, had breakfast, checked my email, exchanged a couple of emails with a client, left a work-related voicemail message, checked in at a few of my regular blog stops (pretty quiet this morning)… then went back to bed. I got something like 8 hours of sleep last night but I couldn’t shake off feeling tired, like there was an extra strong pull of gravity today. Now I’m having a second breakfast – a cup of tea and a piece of banana bread – because lunch didn’t feel appropriate yet.

I was pleased to discover that meanwhile the sun came out and it’s warmed up – it was drizzling when I woke up the first time. Maybe my body just wanted to wake up to a better-looking day. I should go for a walk. My projects are all awaiting client reviews or input, so things are up in the air.

Tonight I’m having dinner with people from my former writers group. I was in the group for four semesters, meeting once a week. It was facilitated by a writing prof from Emerson College and we paid per semester. I joined in September 2001, I think two weeks after 9/11. My client work had come to a standstill, I’d had a tough relationship period, and I thought a writing group would give me something to do besides pace the carpet in my condo and fret about the state of my world and the world. It would also make me exercise my creative muscles.

I did write a fair amount, mostly personal essays and a bit of poetry. The group was very mixed. One woman was completing a fiction manuscript and trying to get an agent, but others were novice writers. One wrote some great comedic essays, another was writing memoir, and a few others fiction. It was a supportive group rather than a critical one, and it helped give me a community to be part of during an otherwise isolated time.

By my fourth semester, though, I didn’t feel like doing the exercises anymore, didn’t feel like I had anything new to say; I just went to read other people’s work and to socialize. The group stopped after that; I think everyone had burned out. But we’ve kept in touch and met for the occasional dinner. A couple of people suggested meeting once a month as a way to re-start or re-energize their writing, but it hasn’t materialized.

For me, I think this blog has given me a new place to write, a new motivation, and a new community, too. I don’t usually write polished pieces here as I did for the group, but probably I should. There were things I wrote for the group that were very personal since it was a small private group, but this blog is public so I’m more careful here. But it’s a daily practice that keeps my writing and thinking muscles in shape. I have yet to burn out, and I hope this will continue for a long while.

But now, I think I’m ready for a little bit of lunch. And then maybe that walk…

1:23:54 PM      trackback []