At last...a room of my own

“A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.” 
― Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own

I first read A Room of One's Own more than thirty years ago. I thought it was brilliant then and still do - particularly because I so rarely have time to sit and think these days. It seems as if life is simply too full of electronic devices and responsibilities that necessarily take priority over creative activities.

I'm trying to change that - to spend less time on-line and more time with my thoughts. Instinctively, I know I need time for quiet reflection in order to recharge - which is one of the reasons I like running so much. However hard it feels physically, it provides opportunities to let my mind wander, to think about things that matter to me, and to explore creative ideas.  

I read an interesting article lately that talked about why compassion may be in such short supply today. One of the theories is that, when people don't have time to daydream, they don't learn to empathize with other people. And, since they can't empathize, they can't feel compassion either. Of course, in a world of 24/7 connectivity - with more things to entertain and distract - fewer people take time to daydream, which may in turn mean the world will be less compassionate in future - a pretty depressing possibility if you ask me. 

In any case, from a personal perspective, the lack of time on my own has been getting to me lately. Don't get me wrong. I love hanging out with Husband. It's just that I spend all day every day interacting with people at the office and need a little solitude now and again to recharge and work on writing and other projects without interruption. 

With that in mind, Husband and I spent a good part of yesterday afternoon turning an unused bedroom into "a room of my own". As I write this, I'm sitting at the table we brought up from the basement to use as a desk. Though small, the room's got plenty of natural light and two windows that offer views of the majestic pines that surround our house, which I can stop to admire whenever I need a break. I must say it feels remarkably good to have this little space of my own. 

My friend Rob (a terrific illustrator and musician) recently reminded me that I don't need the perfect space, the best tools or unlimited time to be creative. I need only to give myself permission to create wherever, whenever and in whatever way I can. By taking a few minutes to capture writing ideas in a notebook. Or by grabbing a quick photo with my smart phone. Or by doodling an image on the corner of a memo. Or by writing a short blog post...even when I don't feel I have much to say. 

Having my own room won't automatically mean I spend more time daydeaming or working on creative projects. That will happen only if I turn off my devices and start making time for those things. But it is at least a symbol of my intention to spend more time feeding my soul so that I'm better equipped to live my life as I'd like to - with much more empathy, compassion and creativity. 

Happy running and writing, friends. 

NaNoWriMo - Day #17

This has been a day of no writing and the week ahead isn't looking much better, but for some reason I'm still clinging to the hope that I'll find the time and energy to churn out another 26,000 words before November 30th - which really doesn't seem likely. Work is hectic, Christmas is just around the corner, and we invited 50 or so people to our house for a kitchen warming in a few weeks so I've got more than enough to keep me busy.

And then there's running. I managed to squeeze in three good workouts last week but skipped my long run today so that I could spend a couple of hours cleaning and prepping my motorcycle for winter. It felt good to get that chore done but I'm grumpy as hell about missing my run.

The trouble is weekends just aren't long enough. When we bought our country place a few years back, I imagined I'd spend long hours there pursuing various creative projects - quilting, painting, writing, photography. Instead, most weekends are taken up with running, blogging and various social activities so I rarely have time to pursue other interests.

I know it's a just matter of setting new priorities and making some decisions. If I want to spend time doing other things, I simply have to give some things up.  Either that or become one of those crazy morning people who crawls out of bed at 5:00 to run, blog or whatever. It would be amazing if I could be one of those people but I really don't think I have it in me.

And yet…and yet... if I were a morning person, maybe I could find time for all those things I want to do.

One thing's for sure, I'll be working a day job for lots more years so I'd better figure out how to juggle things better than I have been.

And, on that happy note,  I guess it's time I was tucking in. Here's hoping a good night's sleep either inspires me to do some serious writing in the morning or helps me make peace with ditching NaNoWriMo 2013 once and for all.  I'll let you know how it turns out.

Happy writing and running, friends!

PS The photo above is one I took in Paris in June.  I'm hoping to write a post about our visit there soon. Stay tuned.

NaNoWriMo - Day #25: The joys of novel writing, dog parks and long runs through Shubie Park

Whohoo!  I broke 43,600 today - meaning I have less than 6,400 to go to reach my goal of writing 50,000 words at 50.  Better yet, I have a story that mostly makes sense. Of course, there'll be lots of rewriting to do if I want to turn my scribblings into anything resembling a real novel - but, since it's the first "first draft" of a novel I've ever written, I'm pleased as punch.

And I must say I've learned lots from the experience so far. First, it's not that difficult for me to write 1,600 or 1,700 words a day so long as I keep my inner editor locked away in the attic while I'm doing it.

Second, when I let the writing flow, lots of stuff happens that I don't anticipate. Where did that plot twist come from? What did that character just say? Where the heck is this story going anyway?  It's downright fascinating watching my subconscious spew the stuff out.

Finally, I actually enjoy trying to write a novel. I always thought/hoped I might - but, since I'd never attempted it, I wasn't sure.

All that said, I'm still looking forward to a break from all this writing when December 1st rolls around.

A quick word about my running this weekend. I treated myself to a long run to Shubie Park and back (15k in all), with a stop and stretch at the spot where my story opens - the far end of a trail called Vivien's Way. It felt good to run after so much sitting and writing.  A good portion of the park is crisscrossed by "off-leash trails" enjoyed by dogs and their human companions (yes, they let the people off leash too) and I don't think there's anything more joyful than a dog park on Sunday morning.  It's positively infectious.

The other delightful thing about the run today was that it reminded that, even when things are at their gloomiest, there's usually beauty and joy around if only you take time to notice.

This late in November the leaves are mostly off the trees and well on their way to becoming mulch so the forest was looking quite dreary today. Still, there was plenty of beauty to be found in the reflection of the sky on the surface of the lake.

Light streaming through the trees.

And bright green moss adding punches of colour to the forest floor.

That's it for tonight, folks. I've typed about as much as I can for one day and I think Husband might appreciate a little company for a change. Have a great week, everyone! And good luck to all you NaNoers out there!

NaNoWriMo - Day #13

It was an awesome weekend - full of running, writing and riding my pretty red motorcycle. I mentioned in my last post that I ran 8k on Saturday. I followed that up with a further 16k on Sunday. I'd intended to run again yesterday but was feeling pretty tired so spent the afternoon on my bike instead. My last stop was, Green Bay, where I took the photo above. It felt good to spend some serious time with my butt in the saddle  I haven't made it to 80 kms/hr yet but at least I'm feeling more comfortable on the highway.

When I started my long run Sunday, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and the sunshine felt wonderful after the cool, dreary weather we had last week. I took this photo from Peace Park.

I can't say it was one of my better runs.  I think I was fighting a cold (successfully, it seems). Or maybe I was wearing the wrong shoes. Or maybe it was this weather system blowing in.

Fortunately, as ominous as the cloud bank looked, it didn't bring nasty weather and, by yesterday, the skies were clear and it was 17 degrees again - perfect for motorcycling.

I've been thinking about setting some new running goals lately. I'd like to do the Cabot Trail Relay again, and think I might tackle the 10th Bluenose Marathon. Since they're both tough races and take place just a week apart, it would be a good idea to run the Hypothermic Half in February as a warm-up as well. Before making any decisions, I'll have to confer with Husband to see what he thinks about me getting back into serious training mode. He might prefer that I focus on our various renovation projects instead. :-)

For those wondering about the writing project. It's going well. I hit 21,000 words before leaving for work this morning, and so far the plot still makes sense. I'll try to post another snippet tonight. The story is getting pretty dark and twisty but, then, it is a murder mystery. And I must say there seems to be something very cathartic about the exercise. I've been sleeping better in the past week than I have in a long while. Go figure.

A big thank you to my friend, Janet, who's training for her first full marathon and participating in NaNo as well. When we got together for our "write-in" on Saturday, she suggested I consider writing in shorter blocks of time, and it really seems to be working for me. Last week, I needed 2-3 hours to write 1,667 words. Now, I'm writing the same number of words in about half the time. The trick is to focus and stop myself from revising as I go. As I keep telling myself, there'll be lots of time for editing when/if I get the first draft done.

Have a great week, everyone! I'd love to hear how your running is going. Any big races planned?  And, if you're NaNoing too, how are you feeling on Day 13?

Happy 5th Anniversary! Blogging, running and preparing to write my first novel

I realized early this week that I've been blogging for 5 years now - well, five years and three days to be exact - which kind of amazes me. I started "Figuring it out" at the suggestion of a friend who wrote his own blog, but I had only a vague notion of what I wanted to write about and posted pretty erratically the first few years. In the past couple of years, it's become a running blog more than anything else, with a fair bit philosophizing and occasional poetry thrown in for good measure.

In the next year or two, I hope to post more about other topics that interest me - books, travel, writing, photography and motorcycling, to name a few - but my muse may have other ideas so we'll see how it goes. In any case, congratulations to me for sticking with it this long!!

In other news, it was a hectic week at work and at home so I didn't do as much running as I'd have liked, though I still managed to get out three times and had a spectacular 16km run today from our home in Conquerall Bank along Highway #331 to LaHave.  It's terrible having to run in such ugly surroundings.  :-)

My ultimate destination was LaHave Bakery where I was meeting husband for brunch and pastries.  The Bakery is a fun and interesting place and we enjoyed delicious eggs benedict and coffee, followed by a melt-in-your-mouth mincemeat tart. Hubbie was feeling pretty mellow after his own 9km run.

Here's me checking out the pastry selection.

I didn't stop to take a lot of pictures en route because I was too busy noodling about the plot of my first novel.  (No, I'm not kidding - see below.)  But I couldn't resist grabbing two shots.  The first was of a dilapidated VW Beatle parked by the edge of the road next to a body shop.  I loved how its colour popped against the blue water and sky, echoing the autumn foliage across the river in Dayspring.

The second was of a piece of folk art parked by the side of the road further on made me laugh out loud because it reminded me of my little red Rebel.  

See the resemblance?  The artists's name is Norman Veinott and he does some wickedly funny stuff with old car parts.  

Speaking of my little red Rebel, I went riding twice this weekend. In fact, in the few weeks I've owned it, I've already logged more than 125 kms - which is pretty impressive given that I haven't really gone anywhere.

Yesterday, I drove down the east side of the river 10 kms or so, stopping en route in Peace Park, where I sat at a picnic table in warm sunshine for an hour or so sketching out the first few scenes of my first novel.  That's right. My novel. Crazy as it sounds, I've decided to try to write a novel during National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).

I've wanted to sign up for NaNoWriMo since I first heard about it a couple of years ago but life always seemed too busy. It still seems too busy but, since that's not going to change anytime soon, I've decided to just go for it as part of my 50th birthday year celebrations. Whatever comes out the other end will be crap but first novels are always crap and - as the old saying goes - "you gotta start somewhere". I figure if nothing else it will keep me out of trouble when Husband's away in a few weeks.

Anyway, it's time I signed off and went to bed. I've another busy week ahead - which will include tackling the piles of work on my desk and dealing with whatever Hurricane Sandy decides to send our way.  At the moment, it looks as if she may pass us by but I expect we'll get heavy rains and wind at least.  Thoughts and prayers are with folks in the US and elsewhere who have been or will be more seriously affected.

Sky paintings 8: Risser's Beach

It was another wonderful weekend at Risser's Beach - with sunny, warm days followed by beautiful sunsets and cool, clear nights.  I took this shot while the guys were cooking supper. My niece asked me to take a photo of her "rock climbing" while I was at it.  

When I asked her what colour the clouds were, she replied "Purple, pink, blue, grey and white." Clever girl.

I think seeing the world through the eyes of a 5 year old is good for the artistic soul. 

Sky painting 3

Skies like this make me glad I live where I do. Clear blue skies every day would be boring.

Sky painting 2

I took this shot en route to work early one morning this week. Gotta love that sky. I can't believe I ever thought clouds were white.

Sky painting

Ominous skies over Petite Riviere

A painter friend once explained that you really can't make a mistake painting the sky because clouds come in an infinite variety of sizes, shapes and colours. Whatever you paint, he said, will look like the sky somewhere sometime - even if it doesn't turn out quite the way you intended.

Maybe - but I still wish I had the skill to paint the sky exactly as it looked yesterday afternoon when I took this photo. As lovely as the image is, it doesn't come close to capturing the intensity of the light as it poured through the clouds to the glowing sandbar beneath.

Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry device on the Bell network.
Envoyé sans fil par mon terminal mobile BlackBerry sur le réseau de Bell.

Running Lessons: A writing runner, or a running writer?

It was a tough 26km long run today. I'm not sure what the trouble was. The weather was perfect, I was well-fueled, and all my bits and pieces seemed to be working well when I started out - aside from a little tightness in my hips. Unfortunately, as the kilometres ticked by, my hips and lower back continued to tighten to the point that running became downright uncomfortable at times. I had to stretch at various points and began to look forward to the uphill portions of the route because they seemed to relieve the discomfort to some extent.

Despite my body being less than cooperative, I still enjoyed many aspects of the run. The skies were mostly clear, the temperature was balmy and I had the route almost entirely to myself.  The high point was discovering another new section of trail that hugs the water's edge upriver from where I usually run. The picture above was taken at a particularly lovely spot along that section.  The peacefulness of the bend in the river made me yearn for a canoe or kayak in which to explore beyond it.

A leisurely paddle wasn't in the cards, however. Yesterday was for running and for thinking about what it means to be a runner and a writer.