Goldenrod
It is so easy to think of a writing project I’ve kept at my side for years as if it exists in perfection, a static beauty I just must uncover. In reality, an unwritten essay or story contains no form until I make it. And as I change and think in new ways as each month of my life passes, that unwritten work, too, changes. This seems nonsensical, perhaps.
With the inspiration of creativity teacher Jessica Abel (Growing Gills), I have realized that once I put a long-delayed project onto my short list, maybe even placing it in first or second place, then I meet the differences between the writer I am at the moment I finally start working on the old idea and the old idea. The old idea might have worked in imagination for a long time, but the reality will be different.
Here is where walking through nature helps. I place the idea high on the creative list, and then I make the time for them. Making time includes writing from nature—the title of my workshop next June. I call it this because nature and movement, often with no pad or pencil in the pocket, opens the place in my mind where the main ideas of my piece can take root.
Writing from Nature
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