Amazing as it has been to me after being a night person all my life, my circadian rhythms have adjusted beautifully here! It's a consistent sunrise and sunset year-round, which is new to me, so that may have something to do with it. Sun is up by 6 a.m. and begins setting at 6 p.m. By 7 p.m. it is very dark everywhere--and it's not uncommon for my day to end around 8 if it has begun at 4, or 10 on days when I manage to sleep through the roosters till 6. I write or work on the book for 12 hours out of the 16 hours of awake time, and break those 12 hours roughly into 4 3-hour segments.
After my Bible & Breakfast time, when dishes and shower are done, I spread out the scene cards for Book I. It's an 11 x 11 grid--11 chapter each with 11 scenes--and fits beautifully on the island in my kitchen.
This process of setting it out daily puts the big picture of the book fresh into my mind so that while I head out on my morning hike, I have already begun the first step: creating the day's scenes internally.
This is a key part of the writing process, as many of our greats from history have written about. Wordsworth, C.S. Lewis, and more recently best-selling author Jonathan Franzen have discussed how key their hours of walking out in nature have been to the work they've been able to create.
Stephen Covey in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People would label this the First Creation phase. Everything has two layers of creation in his teaching, and those who take the time to create internally first do more effective work.
I have definitely found this to be true in my writing. So on go the hiking boots (which here, due to the frequency of the rains and nature of the clay ground are mudding boots--compliments of my landlord family!) And on goes the backpack, with plenty of water and my writing notebook for capturing ideas and phrases as they come to me while doing this level of internal creation of the scenes for the day.
This is probably my favorite part of my writing days! To quote Cicero, "Only the mind that is relaxed can create, and to that mind ideas flow like lightning." I could not have asked for a more perfect set-up for my best creativity! I carry this lightweight stool on my back--taking photos and gathering wildflowers on my way up and down the trails--and set it up on one of the highest points on the ranch property, with a beautiful segment of forest to my back for shade.
These are some of my views.
That's the town of Aguacate far below in the above picture. And the one below is of the buildings on the ranch I live on, including my Casita which is the far back one, from my writing spot that I hike to daily.
These are my only neighbors and companions while I work, for as far as I can see!!
No one else is out on this private property from the time the cattle are herded out to graze in the early a.m. till they are herded back before sundown. What the pictures can't do justice to (including the views, since I'm just using a little phone camera with no zoom or other special features to it) is the amazing quality of the air and wind coming off the lake, from the brook that runs through the property and from the rain forest behind me!!
Back at the Casita, I take a quick cool shower to regulate my body temp adjustment from working out in the sun and humidity to working indoors, arrange the wildflowers I've gathered during the hike to brighten my writing space, and make and eat a healthy snack and shift gears.
I write anything new that I need to for the scenes so it can have time to gestate before the rewriting phase. I also edit the previous day's work.
My writing positions can be varied throughout the Casita--both for variety and for physical health. I do some of the writing from a stool at the bar by my writing window (see a prior blog post on my writing views.)
Some of it I do at the table from the chair.
Some I do standing at the end of the island, facing toward the writing view window.
And while this may sound funny, some of it I do bouncing on an exercise ball at the foot of the bed! (This one is perfect height for my bed height, and bouncing on it while you write I've heard is good for both spine and lymph system. Plus it adds that fun, playful connection-to-childhood element to each day. It bounces really well on the polished clay floor, too!)
While I make lunch and do the clean-up from it, I listen to music. This is my first auditory stimulation of the day beyond the sound of the animals, and by then I'm needing a bit of a change of pace and stimulation! After lunch, I shift to siesta position in bed for the afternoon to do the slower-paced more artistic writing as I seek to craft each scene so it sings. This is actually the angle from which I do my best creative writing--probably per the above quote by Cicero--and in this culture and climate, afternoon siesta time after such an early morning lends itself perfectly to that more slowed-down pace of the brain and body from which I do my most poetic writing.
I start into it by reading samples I've gathered through the years of my favorite poetry and prose to get myself into a hopefully more artistic sounding voice in my writing. I also have gathered items related to the scenes of the book that help make them more concrete and stimulate other parts of the brain; these items, such as the samples pictured, travel with me from place to place in this portable filing system.
This part of the day is the culmination of all that goes before it and is what takes the work of the day into a finished product. To shift gears, I watch the sunset from my front window and then draw the curtains and close up the windows that don't have screens on them for the night (or any light attracts the moths like crazy!)
I typically watch a favorite television episode or short movie from the ones I have downloaded on my laptop with me (opted for no television, dvd player and cable here, though it comes with the rent, to protect my writing focus and input streams.) That gives me something to get my mind off the book for a break while preparing supper, eating and doing the clean-up after--as well as any little puttering household tasks required.
My evening writing segment involves mapping out some of the next day's work as well as any blog entries. I try to make this time as concrete as possible as well, using a clustering technique in notebooks with colored pens that I learned years ago for maximizing creativity. This tool is also known as mindmapping, and I have a stack of notebooks mapping out each scene in color and diagrams that has to travel with me everywhere I and the project go!
I also download, crop and organize photos during this time for blogs and (for the future) the books to add another visual element and variety aspect to the writing day. I also read back through past drafts and mindmaps of the scenes for the next day during this time.
After a healthy bedtime snack (required for my blood sugar issues), I unwind by reading or doing a little Sudoku. And that's my day--4 days a week!
The difficulty of the writing process for this level of writing and the darkness of the subject matter are tempered by the variety and by honoring all I've learned about myself and my own rhythms through the years.
Makes Me Think:
I owe a major debt of gratitude to all the coaches, writing mentors, counselors and arts-oriented friends along the way who have helped me learn my best mode of working and ideal conditions for doing my top work. I could not be to this level in either my writing or my personal development now without them!!
And it makes me think of what one of them (actually a coaching mentor to one of my coaches) likes to say. Every single person is a national treasure in terms of what we each have to give to the world. It becomes a personal stewardship journey to gradually--no matter how long it takes and how deep the root system is that is required--to find out what that is and how to maximize our potential.
Please keep me in thoughts and prayers that it will all pay off in producing works of the calibre they need to be to help spark more of a movement for stopping childhood sexual abuse!!
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