In her brilliant book The Artist's Way, Julia Cameron teaches us that creativity is not an inexhaustible resource. But it is, thank goodness, renewable. She uses the term "filling the well" to describe the process of replenishing our store of images and experiences so we'll have more to draw upon when we return to our work.
Cameron's not the first to speak of this. In her classic Gift from the Sea Anne Morrow Lindbergh speaks of the importance of nurturing ourselves by taking time to contemplate, meditate, and enjoy those quiet, beautiful places the world offers.
It's in this spirit that I'm stealing a few days from the manuscript in progress and making my first trip to Montana, thanks to BtO cohort Joni Rodgers. There are lots of things I'd like to do and see, but mostly, I just hope to live fully in each moment and listen to the quiet trickling of my well as it refills.
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