we all deserve a little "down" time

We all deserve a little "down" time now and then, don't you think? Time away from work. Time away from the news. Time to daydream. Even Mother Nature can't be at the top of her game every day of every week of every season. Which is why we're headed into October, and this week, the weather is beach worthy, hot and humid. At this rate, the pumpkins we put out will rot before Halloween. Perhaps Mother Nature just needs a little time to muster the energy it takes to move into Fall.

"I prefer winter and fall,

when you feel the bone structure

of the landscape.

Something waits beneath it.

The whole story doesn't show."

~Andrew Wyeth~

Although, to her credit, Mother Nature did share a moment of inspiration with us last week when she let loose with a few days of glorious cool, crisp autumn-like weather. Now it's back to the same old thing--the heat and humidity--just when things were looking up. It makes you wonder. Will Fall ever come to stay? Will winter ever get here? Does Mother Nature just need a little "down time"?

 

This comes to mind because that's how my writing has been going lately. I've been slogging back and forth through the last three chapters of my WIP for weeks, not making much progress. Except for a rare moment of inspiration, I have been stuck. I sometimes wonder if I'll ever move ahead. If I'll ever get to the end of it. 

 

Like Mother Nature, I think we all occasionally need a little "down time" in our writing, because, in Brenda Ueland's words:

 

"Inspiration comes very slowly and quietly...

The imagination needs moodling--long, inefficient,

happy idling, dawdling and puttering."

~Brenda Ueland~

 

Patience. Optimism. Nurturing. You can no more rush a thought into being than you can hurry the seasons along.

 

Eventually, autumn will get here. Sooner or later the story will finish itself.

 

Do you ever experience "down" time? Do you let it discourage or energize you? Are you open to what will follow?

"...it is the way you are to feel when you are writing--

happy, truthful, and free,

with that wonderful, contented absorption

of a child stringing beads.

With complete self-trust."

~Brenda Ueland~

jan