Fill the Well Sunday

After months of being basically housebound as I struggled to meet a pair of tight deadlines, I decided it was time to get out in the world again and refill the well with images, experiences, and enjoyment. Today's foray was classic Texas all the way: longhorns and bluebonnets in the sunshine, barbecued brisket in a family diner sort of spot, and long hours of meandering talk with the man in my life, the kind of drive to remind us when and where and how we fell in love all those years ago.

So what's your favorite way to recharge your creative batteries? And when's the last time you indulged?

If it's been too long, make a date with yourself. Life's definitely too short to work 24/7, and anyway, your work will be far sharper for the fresh new images and ideas you will bring back to it.

Not a half-bad Sunday, one that's left me freshly energized for a good week writing.

A Season for Story

With so many distractions -- many of them wonderful -- it's a tough season for writing but a terrific one for story. With a pile of exciting new books to read, the discovery of a great, undiscovered series (Showtime's DEXTER, which I'm loving) to watch on DVD, and a slew of promising-looking award contendah movies I'm dying to see (DOUBT, BENJAMIN BUTTON, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, and then some), it's tempting to want to slip away from the work-in-progress and fill my head with others' stories.

Not only that, but there's the distraction of real characters, real stories crowding into the writer's life during the holiday season. Visits to and from family, children returning to the nest, friends dropping by. Life bustling all around me, refilling my well against the coming drought of solitude, when everything falls quiet.

So for now, I work when I can to keep my eye on the thread of the story I'm unravelling. But I can't begrudge the real and the fictional stories of this season, the straw I'll attempt to spin into gold in more productive months.