Taking Time to Write
For the past several months I’ve been putting together thoughts for the direction of my next book. To help the process along, I’ve committed this week to writing. Some authors write every day, and some dedicate blocks of time to write. I’m a “blocks of time” writer, so I’m at a cabin on a ranch in the Texas Hill Country.
When I came here, I had an idea of the direction I planned to take with the next book. While I’m still heading in that direction, the act of actually writing has opened my mind to things I hadn’t considered before now. American novelist Joan Didion once said, “I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.” I now know what she meant by those words.
Each of us can learn a lot about where we are by taking the time to write. Even if you’re not an author, stop what you’re doing at some point this week and write about what’s on your mind. When you think you’re done, keep writing. I have found this week that it’s when you get past what you think you know that you begin to find out what you’re thinking, what you’re looking at, what you see, and what it means. What you want and what you fear.

