To be awakened and present has become a priority in my life. New ways of seeing often come to me in the freedom of outdoors, so I spend a lot of time hiking and walking. For me, music and art are a big part of being present too. I’ve played the guitar for years and I find it easy to slip into a flow of spontaneous creativity as I play. Illustrative art does the same. I’m working on a mythical story right now and doing my own illustrations. All of these things free me into a more open and honest space. Relationships with my family and friends continually nourish me and their lives bring me fresh insight in surprising and delightful ways. And lastly, for me, one of the greatest entries into the life of my soul is writing.

 

Before I could even write letters or sentences, I was scribbling out story on reams of paper and taping them to the back of my Grandfather’s red leather chair, my small “writer’s cottage.” I still use reams of paper, only now it’s for my journals, decades of my life poured out into little notebooks. Although for my other writing projects I use a computer as well, for the workhorse parts, moving heavy materials from one place to the other. Paper and pen still serve best when I am dealing with the delicacy of inspiration.

 

The things that stoke the writing fires of inspiration for me are a stack of books, a quiet place that invites forays into the imagination and a story idea that haunts my inner sanctum begging to be written. As a writer it’s easy to live exclusively in that inner sanctum, but the charm of “just me and the blank page” has its limits.

 

I’ve imagined of a kind of book club on steroids, one in which the participants are as intrigued with the writing process as much as the product. That idea has worked like a catalyst for the creation of Seeds for Thought.  My “dream” consists of creating an online community of readers and writers, not necessarily academics or professional writers, just people who love to read and to write and to talk about it; a group of people who want to support the kind of stories that might remain untold if it were not for a community of people who simply love story and will encourage others of like mind.

 

I’m thinking, “You're out there!” The ones who love reading and writing as much as I do and want to connect with others of like mind.

 

Join me in this little online community.