Creating Space

Interesting that when I saw the last posting by you Katherine (in August!) and our recent conversation about creating space for our writing.

I have been reading How I Write: The Secret Lives of Authors edited by Dan Crowe. One of the delights of this book is its visual appeal. It is a larger size book so when the book opens to a two-page spread, it is draws me inside. Whether it is the program or other tool (typewriters are still used) or a gigantic desk, what appealed to me was how authors create their spaces. The deliberateness. Matt Thorne tells a story of a comment from a woman at a party who told him that he had writer's shoes. She went on to explain that they were worn down. I have heard this before, the idea of walking as a way of overcoming writer's block.

To be honest, I don't use walking as a way to get me writing, and it is a shame, really, since I live in such a picturesque place. But perhaps it is too inspiring, all that beauty.

What does help is going away, especially to a new place. There is much to stir my imagination. Can this be done at home?

I remember years ago talking to Ruth Moir shortly after my moving to the Kootenays. She suggested that I observe and write everything around me while it was still fresh. This is good advice, I figure. And the challenge. Keeping it fresh.