writing

The other day I encountered someone who came to a reading I did about two months ago. He asked how my stories were coming along, and I told him I started this blog two weeks ago. I also told him I found it hard to write with Fyn requiring so much of my time when the kindergarten kids weren't demanding my attention. He told me that he found that he needed to write everyday no matter what to keep his thoughts fresh. I've heard this many times and have tried to keep my journal going over the years on a daily basis. But days do pass without finding the moments to sit down and write.

It's a discipline that I am much better at following in the summer months when I can focus on my thoughts. My typical day now consists of rising at 5:20 so I can spend some time with Fyn before school. We hang out for a while, go for a walk to the river to get him back to sleep so I can return him to Victoria around 7:15. Then I get ready for school. I usually leave the house before 8 and get home around 6. By this time, Victoria needs a break from Fyn so we go for a walk and play until dinner. We try to get him to bed around 9, which means that time for writing is now--9:18.

My brain is depleted of creativity by this time of night because I have been "on" all day. My most productive writing times are between 8 a.m. and noon. I know this because my thoughts flow freely before I eat and during the summer I don't bother doing that until at least noon. At this time of night I can replay the events of the day, but finding the story that was waiting to be told twelve hours ago is a distant memory.

I know I am not alone in this respect. Finding the time for things we love to do is the goal of most humans. I am glad that I have not wasted brain power on the television in five years. I'd probably never have time to write if I were tuned into that machine. Honestly, I would love to live a technology free life. I don't own or want to be tied to a cell phone. As I said the TV is gone. When my laptop crashed 245 pages into my book(thankfully it is saved on a flash drive), I was ready to swear off computers. Most of the writing this past year has been with the pen and paper. Now I have journals jam packed with stories and poetry. Much of the writing has been done with Fyn sleeping on my chest beside the river. The following is a taste from last August to tie into my writing of the Wizard Walk:

The wizards enter the magical forest in the escort of Sir Maxwell. Their guide quickly races ahead, climbing trees for a better view. As Master Fyn surveys the familiar landscape, his father speaks to one of the fairies.
"Good morning to you Gringer, it is a beautiful day."
"Good morning Fodda," Gringer replies.
"Where's Atter this morning? It's unusual to see you without her."
"She's decided to learn Spanish because she says that is what Fyn has been speaking when they communicate. She thinks that's why she has been having a hard time being understood by you." Gringer smiles knowingly that it is Atter's excitement at being in Fyn's presence that maker her stutter.
"So is she taking a class to learn Spanish?" the wizard asks.
"In a way," Gringer replies. "She's gone to what humans call the equator and our people refer to as Mother's center. She's having a great time and I think she really is learning to speak Spanish."
"What makes you think that?"
"I can't even understand what she's saying in her thoughts when she sends me them, so she must be speaking Spanish," Gringer says.
"You mean to say that you can communicate with her even though she is so far away?"
"Sir, you and Master Fyn could communicate with her right now if you really tried. We fairies already understand that we are all connected and there really is no such thing as distance to separate us from others. You've lived too long among the humans and have fallen into their traps of time and space."
"Wait a second Gringer!" the wizard interrupts. "I still understand the principles by which this world operates."
"No disrespect to you sir, but you did marry one of the humans and had to give up being a fairy. I suppose being a wizard has its advantages, but you are living between two worlds now. When you were one of us, someday you will recall, you could travel anywhere instantaneously. Now you walk through this world as an observer of magic. You can still perform some amazing feats. You have the ability to form a bridge between our two worlds. Fyn has already helped guide you back to us, and we will help you remember those things you knew when you were a child of nature."