Hello Dear Writers,
Here we are in the last days of 2024, and I’m looking at how I might spend the upcoming new year in my writing life. I am steering away from making to do lists and goals about being organized, submitting to publications, working on old work, making new, and here I am encouraging you to think of the possibilities in taking time to rest. What would happen to our creative selves?
The poet, David Whyte, says in his book, Consolations of rest: “to rest is not self-indulgent, to rest is to prepare to give the best to ourselves, and … to arrive at a place where we understand what we have already been given.”
This month I’ve spent time in my reading chair with tea, listening to music, browsing through a poetry anthology, curbing my inner monologue of “being so behind in everything.” I’ve enjoyed some television shows, done a little baking, gone through my sock drawer, thumbed through magazines, sat bundled up at the fire, looking at the night sky. What activities or simple chores give you rest, pleasure, or ease?
Outside my window I see my garden at rest. Leaves cover the ground, the hydrangeas sway with their heads of brown blooms. The tall summer perennials have gone to seed. When snow falls next week, I look forward to their sparkle.
Summer