This is a post I actually wrote a while ago, but since I love the theme, I am sharing it in its original form — a little blast from the past!
I am writing this post on my way to Washington, DC to visit Louise, an old friend from Montclair and her family. Sitting on a Bolt Bus — comfy and the price is right. I gaze around me. The man next to me is reading The Scarletta Factor by Patricia Cornwall. Across the aisle from me, more readers are immersed in their books. When we stop for a break, I see other books sprawled on the seats. How encouraging! People still read! And they still read books, actual paperbacks and hardbound novels. There’s hope for us all!
I pull out, not a book, but my book-to-be. I’ve taken a few chapters of my YA novel along with me to read over. Pretty soon, the pages are crawling with a black web of words pouring from my pen. I’ve rewritten one chapter five times and still see things to fix! Oh, well. Each go-round seems to be getting tighter, more focused, better. Maybe this set of changes will be the magic charm.
I’m enjoying this immensely: rolling along on the bus and writing. There is something about traveling that is a tonic for writers, I think. “It’s great to break out of your life for a while,” my sister Steph says to me when I tell her about my little jaunt. She’s right! Just picking up and traveling somewhere, even for a few hours, seems to be freeing. You see new things, hear snippets of conversation, amuse yourself, and open up to what life brings you in a relaxed, receptive way.
Maybe it’s that opening up, that being on the move, in transit, that shakes your brain up a bit and knocks loose a few ideas. Or maybe it’s soaking in new sights that does it. Whatever it is, I’m feeling sure that this little break will be restorative and find its way onto the page with a fresh little dance step that will surprise and delight me.
I look forward to the dance. Write on!