I didn’t know there was such an official thing — I have a dream journal (which I’ve misplaced all of a sudden and need to find –oh there it is. My idea file is on Dropbox, but I think a hard copy might be nice (something to have to remember in a fire or major disaster of some kind — I can keep it in my computer bag, though). And I think I’ll print out this file in the meantime–who knows if technology melts down what happens to the “cloud.”
At any rate, I found my idea file on Dropbox. Something I haven’t looked at in three years–since I was caregiver.
I highly recommend you keep one if you are a creative person. There are some great ideas on there–including my next novel idea I’d completely forgotten about–but much more more. Now that next novel can be percolating as I work this year on my present project (and I AM working, thanks to the synchronicity of my son’s advice and Steven Pressfield’s brilliance I always recognized).
It’s Sunday and that meant a day of rest. I had considered just a walk, but it’s going to rain and the temp is dropping fast, submerging us back into that final plunge into winter this coming week. Like someone who keeps pushing your head back down as you’re trying to exit that murky, frigid water. Does that metaphor/simile work? I think so.
So much for my Sunday.
I was listening to Steven Pressfield (Legend of Baggar Vance) and he was quoting one of his artistic friends who said about exercise routines–“you can do nothing for a day, but you can’t eat anything.” That sounds more positive when you frame it as a fast day which works on so many levels. Aids the creative juices, rests the system completely, promotes autophagy. And you don’t need to worry about cooking. I never exercise on fast days. So that rang true to me.
So that’s what I’ll do. I have leftover pulled pork for Carnitas Tacos (low carb shells) for my crew.
And there’s the Tigers game and the PGA tournament, and later 1883, and of course all my reading.
I’m reading four books at once: The War of Art, Pressfield, The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin, The Solace of Open Spaces, Gretel Ehrlich (just fabulous nonfiction about cowboying she did on a sheep farm in Wyoming–beautiful prose), Coming Home, fiction by my good friend Smitha Vishwanath I’ve just begun. I’ll be reading all these in the near future.
I have also decided to hold off re-reading The Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner, and instead reread Taylor Caldwell who inspired me to be a writer when I was young (and whose work is so pertinent now to our present political and social climate). She also was a believer in reincarnation which will inform in some ways my Dream/Time novel.
It’s clouding up as we speak. But it won’t impede my plans for the day. I’m observing (and taking my cues for the coming weeks) from my intrepid robin who waits for us to disappear and then goes right back at making that nest–way too low and near much traffic. She’ll have the place to herself ten days starting Thursday when we head off to visit the grandson. (It’s grandparents’ day coming up). I’ll need to move that wreath when she’s done with it and I hope she doesn’t get crabbier once there are eggs and babies in that nest. It’s literally at eye level. At least she’s not a blue jay. I hate them.
May first, I will make our reservations for next March at Havasu Falls RV Park in Arizona. We’ll meander out Route 66 and return through southern Utah. I also need to make reservations for a restaurant for our family camping trip in Eagle River/Eagle Harbor on Lake Superior. There’s a beautiful restaurant right on the lake there.
My dreams have been lucid. And I’m remembering them. Good for my project.
This summer we will do a bit more scaled back garden because we’re painting our stained brown house white, but with stained wood posts and front door and some stained awnings and trim boards here and there. I loved the stained house Mom designed, but it’s so hard to keep up and the siding is getting a bit sad as well. This design plan will require less landscaping than keeping the existing siding as well. I’m looking forward to it. A nod to Joanna Gaines and her Texas Farmhouse designs (though with the metal roof and right on the bay here, it also works well for a coastal vibe). Some grasses and a minimalist design on that front will be easy upkeep as well. Maybe a small tree here and there. Here is very close to how she’ll look:
A perfect Sunday. I hope for one for you, too.
Crosspost. #Idea journal, Dreams
L.E.K. 