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September 23, 2006
Begin the Hours of this Day Slow
Forgive me if this entry is a little soggy. Last Saturday, our darling daughter married her sweet Matt. It was an absolutely perfect day (okay, a few glitches but that's what makes weddings weddings!). All ten attendants, plus the flower girl, arrived at our home at 10 a.m. to dress for the 1 o'clock event. It was crazy and hectic and marvelous. My heart was, and still is, full.
A few months before the wedding, a dear writer friend, Pamela Greenwood presented me with a line from Robert Frost's poem, "October Morning." It reads: "Begin the hours of this day slow." She held onto that line as her own daughter was married several years ago. Thanks to her generosity, that line became my pre-wedding mantra. And that line enabled me to stop and fully enjoy each moment of Quinn and Matt's wedding weekend.
I would love to pass this gift on to you, my dear writing friends. There are so many pressures to produce, to accomplish, to publish. Let me encourage you to begin the hours of your writing day slow. Sit with your characters and your story. Don't push them to do things they weren't created to do. Don't miss those precious moments -- like when my father took my shaking hand as I sat alone in the pew waiting for my husband to join me -- because you are rushing to the next scene or chapter or project. Don't allow the fast pace of our world to pressure you into writing something slick or cliche or trivial. Slow down. Breathe. Take hold of another's hand. Gaze into your character's face and see the joy, the sorrows, the fears, the hopes there. Enjoy each moment of the creation process.
A story, a book, a wedding. "Retard the sun with gentle mist, enchant the land with amethyst. Slow, slow!"
Posted by kirby at September 23, 2006 07:57 PM
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