Writing and Flow

The daily urge to write is one I must pretend some days for awhile until it comes naturally – today is such a day. There are times when I lose it entirely, and I know the only way to get it back is to just do it. Like so much else in my life, I want back the days of flow, when ideas come so fast my pen’s speed is hard-pressed to get the words down. I wonder at the fallow field of my mind just now, perhaps it follows the seasons. Winter** now, the grass is brown, trees are poised for budding but barren still of the color I know will show the end of bone chilling cold.

I’m rewriting/editing my novel. It is sapping the energy for new work from me, this reworking of old words, strengthening plot, polishing dialog, and filling out the shallow places. It is taking a more focus from the rest of my life than I thought it would. If it were not for my “Morning Pages” ala Julia Cameron, which I write faithfully in my journal every morning, there would be little new and nothing to post on my various blogs. Fact is, some days those 3-5 pages are so banal, they will never see posting anywhere. They will stay safely hidden between my journal’s red leather covers guarded by dragons as will the rest of this rambling.

**As for Winter, this just in: PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. — Brace yourself for more wintry weather. Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow Saturday, leading the groundhog to forecast six more weeks of winter.