Monday, April 28, 2008

Retreat

Soon I will be going to Ohio for an artist's retreat. I am so eager to go. I was fortunate enough to go a couple of years ago and got so much writing done. They have generously offered me a spot again this year and although this is a very, very busy time for me with work I have been cramming as much into each day as possible so I can go to the retreat.

I think many people around me just don't understand my need to be "away" to write. It's because when I'm here there are so many other demands on my time, my brain, my creativity. When my "job" is writing, it will be different. But in the short term, I need to be "away" from the things that demand my energy in order to devote that energy to writing.

I'm blessed to not have any "crazymakers" in my life, to use Julia Cameron's term, so it's no problem for me to focus in that regard. It's about the other things that demand from me.

I recently read a quote by writer Jan Karon, that summed it up. "The business of living interferes with the solitude so needed for any work of the imagination."

I am looking forward to being alone in a little cabin in the woods, focused on writing what's in my imagination.

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