My mind wandered this morning, like an early summer sun leisurely seeks a cheek to warm; I cannot write today. I gave it my best effort, sitting down at my desk. A few lines for a poem emerged…then sank to the shaded parts of my creativity. I looked over a scene in my fiction novel, but the words blurred into nonsense. So, I made a cup of coffee, decaf, as it’s all I’m allowed now, though nothing but warmth touched the insides of my soul. I cuddled up with an amazing read, Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens. Though I realized her beautiful writing is a shooting star in a night sky. If I study the dark horizon long enough, I might catch one or two streaming through the atmosphere, but they’re gone so fast, sometimes I’m not sure what I saw.
I suppose the day has decided: It’s a down day.
Call it rest, taking a break…readying my mind for upcoming greatness…Ha! It’s good to feel hopeful and positive when my writing mind feels somehow paused. I could blame the weather, this being the first sunny summer day in a long time, even for Seattle. But really, if it had been raining and the air cool, I might have written something similar…wandering mind this morning, like cool drops of rain plinking against the window pain disappear down winding trails of glass.
Either way, I cannot write today. So, I am off to enjoy the sunshine and allow some of that “life-ness” to find its way to my soul. For me, that’s when my writing returns.
Writing Advice: Accepting the gift of a down day…
There’s a difference between procrastinating and when a sense of writing-rest is needed. I can distinguish between avoiding writing (for all kinds of reasons) and when my mind calls it quits. It’s like my brain tells my heart, “I appreciate all your efforts and imagination, and will allow that creativity to flow again in due time, but for today, I’m calling you to rest.”
When you find you’re in need of a little writing-rest…take it. Allow yourself the gift of a down day. Just be sure to be present. Feel that golden sun on your face. Watch the ladybug flutter from shaded leaf to shaded leaf. Crease each fold in the laundry as an art. Arrange the food on your plate so the colors are most attractive. Notice everything about your time away from writing, so you can bring those experiences back. Even if you don’t write about the sun, or ladybugs, or laundry, or food colors on your plate, you will surely remember to expose those kinds of details to your reader in a similar, fresh way. And the only way to bring this level of writing to your readers is to live it.
Enjoy your down day when it calls.
Happy Writing (and maybe today, just think about writing…because in that way, you’re still writing),
~By Celaine Charles, July 21, 2019
Image Credit Links:
https://www.amazon.com/Where-Crawdads-Sing-Delia-Owens-ebook/dp/B078GD3DRG/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=where+the+crawdads+sing&qid=1563661890&s=gateway&sr=8-1 (Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens)
https://markmanson.net/self-awareness (Wow—great article from Mark Manson! I was giving credit for using the artwork of the sailing boat, but I really encourage reading his article as well)
https://www.psychologicalscience.org/publications/observer/obsonline/when-mind-wandering-is-a-strategy-not-a-disadvantage.html (interesting article on wandering minds, where I found the first art piece above that looks like a rainbow mind)
Categories: Thoughts on writing...
Tags: #celainecharleswriter, #living, #poetrycommunity, #resting, #stepsinbetween, #writingcommunity, #writingjourney, #writinglife, #writingtips, authors, encouragement, encouragment, inspiration, poetry, reading, writers, writing, writingadvice
Steps In Between 
What a great perspective to have 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I try… Thank you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Always 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
You always know what to say to ease my mind and encourage me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m so happy – it’s nice to know I’m not alone. Love…💕
LikeLike