Writer, Louise Erdrich said:

“By having children, I’ve both sabotaged and saved myself as a writer. [...] With a child you certainly can’t be a Bruce Chatwin or a Hemingway, living the adventurer-writer life. No running with the bulls at Pamplona. If you value your relationships with your children, you can’t write about them. You have to make up other, less convincing children. There is also one’s inclination to be charming instead of presenting a grittier truth about the world. But then, having children has also made me this particular writer. Without my children, I’d have written with less fervor; I wouldn’t understand life in the same way. I’d write fewer comic scenes, which are the most challenging. I’d probably have become obsessively self-absorbed, or slacked off. Maybe I’d have become an alcoholic. Many of the writers I love most were alcoholics. I’ve made my choice, I sometimes think: Wonderful children instead of hard liquor.”

As for me, I have two amazing daughters who are launched into the world at this point, but when I started writing they were still in middle school and high school. I was an 8 – 3 writer, except on holidays and summer vacations, and I was a single-mom, as well. I’d like to think writing actually made me a better mom because–then, as now–I feel at my most authentic when I write.

We writers will do what we have to do to get to write. What about you? Are you a writer, poet, painter or other creative-type with children? How has this limited or enhanced your craft?

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This post is in honor of bookstores. Do you have a favorite bookstore? No, not Amazon (though I love Amazon, too. I sell a lot of books through Amazon, including Kindle editions). But one of those brick and mortar ones where you can spend an entire afternoon sitting in a comfy chair in a corner sampling new authors and poets, or those who are tried and true.

Having moved from Colorado a little over a year ago, I still pine for the bookstore on Pearl Street in downtown Boulder, Colorado, aptly named: Boulder Books. It was the perfect place to spend an afternoon. I preferred the second floor that was full of fiction, poetry and art books and chairs scattered throughout. 

There have been others I have loved over the years. Malaprops in downtown Asheville, NC has a great atmosphere. Highland Books, in my own little town of Brevard, is a haven for book lovers with its helpful staff. And hopefully, I will find more in the years to come. 

The Huffington Post recently came up with 9 of the most amazing bookstores in the world. You can find the article here.  

Another article in the Guardian UK invited readers to enjoy  The World’s 10 Best Bookshops. Photos and story are here. 

I’ve included a few photographs from the articles for your enjoyment. Meanwhile, do you have a favorite bookstore? What is one of your favorite things about it? I’d love to hear from you.

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Author website.

Our house is basically a construction zone right now. We are a little more than halfway through a summer of renovations. We’ve had these changes planned for months; we geared up for the disruption it would inevitably cause; we vowed to rise above the chaos and stay focused on the finished product.

Now that we’re in the thick of it, we have resorted to living a life of clichés. “Take it one day at a time,” we tell each other. “Keep your eye on the prize,” we gently remind ourselves. “Stay steady,” we say seriously, when it feels like the wheels are coming off the rickety go-cart of our sanity. (This one we coined ourselves; our rendition, I guess, of stay the course.)

At the same time that our house is being taken over by noise and very helpful, wonderful tradesmen, I have been seeking out quieter locations to work on the revisions to my new novel. As nail guns secure wooden boards where worn out carpet used to be, I hammer away at every scene, every paragraph, and every word trying to create something new, fresh, and vital.

Revising is about re-visioning.

A few months ago we re-visioned our house, wanting to take it to the next level of possibility that would fit our aesthetics and our lifestyle.

Today, as I re-vision every scene and character in my latest manuscript, I move sections of text around, enhance or expand a scene, as well as take a hard look at anything that slows down the pacing and effectiveness of the novel. I do this because for me, the goal is always to write a really good story – a story that will keep readers interested and engaged and have them remembering the characters long after they have finished reading the book.

To this end, revising (also known as rewriting) can be subtle, removing a word here or there, adding a different metaphor, expanding dialogue or description. At other times, revising can contain moments of complete demolition. Much of revising, or re-visioning, is about getting rid of anything (characters, scenes, extra words) that doesn’t serve the story, just like a home renovation is getting rid of anything that doesn’t serve the ultimate layout or vision a person has for their home. But it’s also about building: creating richer, more compelling characters, taking more risks and perhaps expanding the scenes that work.

Revising is about being able to hold the tension of the chaos that occurs before a creation is complete. In the end, whether you’re revising your book, your home, your work, your relationship or some other aspect of your life, for me it’s about creating a work of art.

So as the summer progresses, may we all take each day one day at a time, keep our eye on the prize and, by all means, stay steady. Meanwhile, I’d love to hear how your summer is going. And if you have any suggestions on how I might get through the rest of August without resorting to more clichés, I’d be especially grateful.

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Cairns are something I saw a lot of while living in Colorado, especially on hikes in Rocky Mountain National Park, when above treeline. They mark the way when the trail disappears over solid rock surfaces. They also mark the tops of summits.

To me, cairns are a comforting symbol that let us know that we’re on the right track, that we’ve come to the right place, and that whoever came before us wants to help guide us.

Yesterday, while hiking in the national forest near our home (in North Carolina), my mate and I found three cairns along a mountain stream. They weren’t marking a trail, but were placed, seemingly magically, along and even in the stream bed.

Three, as you know from fairy tales, is a magic number. It means that something is about to happen. Take three wishes, for example. The initiate is given three wishes and this determines their fate. In Jungian thought, threes symbolize transformation. So whenever I see three of something, or get three nudges from the universe that I need to go in another direction, I know something’s going on in a powerful way.

We have also created three cairns at our home, marking the path to our door. We want anyone who visits to know that they’ve come to the right place. The trail, at least for a little while, is this way. Beyond the third cairn, marks the beginning of hospitality. Peace to all who enter here, says the small symbol next to our door.

The stories that we create and share are like cairns. They are like markers we leave behind that show other people the shape that our journeys have taken. Stories, to me, whether they are fiction, nonfiction or somewhere in-between, are sacred beings. They are our way of communicating with our current tribe, our descendants and also our imagination, intuition and spirit, the collective around us.

So if given three wishes, one of them that I offer is this:

 May we all find our creative journey with ease and leave markers along the way for those who follow to make their journey a little easier.

And so it is.

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I’ve had an author website since 2006. Finally this year I had it updated so that it looks more professional. Please check it out and let me know what you think.

Since I think it’s fun to share photographs, I also put up a few small photo albums of my trip to Italy, my time living in Colorado and trips to various places in the southwest, a fan album and a book cover album. 
 

This photo is of me on a street in Florence, Italy. I’m on my way to rent a car to drive to Assisi for an overnight visit and from there I went to Siena for a few days and then to the coastal villages at Cinque Terre.
 

I had dreamed about going to Italy for years. I went there, in part, to do research for Seeking Sara Summers because some of the novel takes place in Italy. I love doing research that involves travel! The novel I’m working on now is set in the Georgia low country, near Savannah, which is a little closer to home. I feel a road trip coming on!
 

If you have a website, let me know the address so I can visit your site. And, like I said before, I’d love to hear what you think of my new design and content.

Onward and upward!

Susan

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In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I am reposting a list I shared a few months ago of 100 things (in no particular order) that I am grateful for.

Creating a gratitude list can help return you to a sense of power and possibility. Please feel free to add the things you’re grateful at the comment section at the bottom of the post (or if you are an email subscriber, you can click on the name of the post and it will take you to the blog to comment).

1. my mate
2. my children
3. friends
4. meaningful work
5. laughter
6. community
7. mountain bluebirds
8. coffee shops
9. organic Assam tea
10. road maps
11. wildlife protection
12. trails
13. libraries
14. bookstores
15. artists
16. painters
17. wisdom
18. knowledge
19. potluck dinners
20. National Parks
21. prairie dogs and coyotes
22. good movies
23. elk
24. waterfalls
25. imagination
26. boldness
27. courage
28. people who read books
29. people who read my books
30. discipline
31. joy
32. poetry
33. encouragement
34. mountain ranges
35. good physical health
36. poets
37. dancers
38. integrity
39. sparrows
40. eagles
41. porch swings
42. honor
43. faith
44. resilience
45. kindness
46. authenticity
47. aspiring writers, artists, poets
48. cottonwood trees
49. sparrows
50. shade
51. oak trees
52. all trees
53. extended family
54. unconditional love
55. inspiration
56. strawberries
57. gardens
58. water hoses
59. Pentel mechanical pencils
60. streams
61. rivers
62. oceans
63. mother earth
64. adversity
65. inner work
66. good neighbors
67. surprising moments
68. Pentel pens
69. fresh baked bread
70. blueberries
71. raspberries
72. vegetables
73. art galleries
74. resiliency
75. rain forests
76. vacations
77. a really good joke
78. creativity
79. traveling
80. pets
81. teachers
82. mentors
83. really good books
84. children
85. literary agents
86. Wii sports
87. dreams
88. snow
89. snowshoes
90. snow shovels
91. running water
92. electricity
93. shelter
94. honest politicians
95. really good music
96. spiritual paths
97. sidewalks
98. word processing software
99. time to write
100. hope

What would be on your list?

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It happens to the best of us. We’re cruising along in life, things are going great or just so-so and then – wham! – something happens that stops us cold! It could be something at work, in a relationship, or something less clear-cut, like a fear that we’re not good enough or that our lives don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things.

Repetitious negative thoughts such as: I should …. I ought to …. I never ….. I always…..— these keep our psychological wheels spinning and eventually create a rut that seems impossible to get out of. Perhaps we’re stuck in a relationship, a job or an attitude that no longer fits us or doesn’t make sense anymore.

Whatever the cause, people get stuck. It’s just what we do from time to time. Like I told a client recently, it’s like a jeep that gets stuck in the mud. Spinning the wheels just digs the rut deeper. We need to stop, get out of the car, and assess the situation. Sometimes we need help. We need to call on rock-solid friends or trusted, confidential professionals who know the quickest ways to get out of the rut and who can give us a compassionate nudge in the direction we say we want to go.

When stuck in life’s muddy places, it’s often hard to envision our destination. We tend to focus on the stuck-ness. But sometimes creating a new vision, giving up old attitudes and patterns and gently rocking the jeep with possibilities gets things moving again.

Years ago, one of the areas I felt stuck in my life was creatively. I had always wanted to write a book but hadn’t found the time, confidence or energy to act on this dream. So with some awesome help, I did the work I needed to do to get free and now I’ve written several novels. One is out right now, and two others are in the process of being marketed to publishers by my literary agent.

Is there an area of your life where you feel stuck? Is there a book you need to write? A cause you need to champion? An attitude or a relationship that you’ve outgrown but that is keeping you small? If so, take the steps to get free from whatever is keeping you from moving forward. I know you can do this.

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How often do you get one of those truly great ideas in life and you forget to write it down? So many good ideas, even epiphanies, come to us at inconvenient times: the middle of the night, the middle of a meeting, in the shower, or whenever. Our muse has a mind and a schedule of her own that doesn’t always respect or honor our timing of things.

As Sam Horn, author of Pop! Stand Out in Any Crowd, says about our muse, “All it asks is that when it gives us an idea, we write it down. As long as we do, it’ll keep coming around.” I have borrowed her phrase, Muse It Or Lose It, for this article. She also has a section in her book called: Ink It When You Think It.

One of my latest manuscripts, currently being shopped around by my agent, is called Wildflower. I had not planned on writing this novel. In fact, I swore to myself, as someone born and raised in the southern United States, that I would never, ever, write southern fiction. I had enough scary, weird characters in my gene pool. I didn’t feel the need to explore all the dynamics in a novel. But never say never, right?

In the middle of the night, several years ago now, a voice began speaking in my imagination. It was the main character of this novel I swore I would never write, telling me her story. In fact, she was practically dictating the book to me. I have had enough experience with characters and ideas showing up that I knew that if I didn’t get up and start writing it down that I would lose it. In fact, this character might even find some other writer to tell her story to. So even though I could have really used that night’s sleep and the year or so that followed where I was carefully working and reworking her story, I feel good that I took responsibility for it.

I know all this sounds a little crazy, but I’m southern; I feel like I’m allowed. I’m also an ex-shrink so I know I’m not dealing with mental illness, just the process of creativity. There is something very mysterious about how stories and ideas are born. After 14 years of writing, I’m almost convinced that they choose us, instead of us choosing them.

Mystery aside, and on the purely practical end of things, it’s important to write things down. Anne Lamott, devotes a whole chapter in her book Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, to 3×5 index cards. She is never without them. Of course this doesn’t work for everybody. You may prefer a note pad or want to use your Blackberry or have the memory of an elephant and never need to write anything down. But it is crucial to take action and claim it.

When you get an idea for an article or a story, or you start hearing a stream of dialogue in your imagination, you are being given a gift. Think twice before you turn down this gift because it may not return. I truly believe that if you honor your muse, your muse will honor you.

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The snow-capped Rocky Mountains surround me like ancient grandparents who want to tell me their stories and pass their wisdom on to me. There are no fresh words to describe this level of jaw-dropping beauty. Majestic, timeless, awesome, are overused. Yet every time I sit and witness this scene, I feel refreshed, renewed.

So if these mountains could talk, what would they say to artists today? Somehow, I imagine their lessons would be about authenticity. You cannot look at these mountains and not feel their “being”ness. They are solid, dependable and real.

I think artists are called upon to be authentic, too. We are called upon to be observers and witnesses to our surroundings and to report back to society through our writings, paintings, sculptures, poems, and more. And I truly believe that the more real and solid we are, the more effective and inspiring our work will be to others.

Perhaps these mountains would also teach us how to be unwavering in our belief of ourselves and encourage us to call upon all our strength to do the work that’s involved in fulfilling our purpose on this planet. Perhaps they would tell us to rest in the majestic, awesome, timelessness within, and connect to our own “being”ness.

Geologists tell us that this is the second set of mountains to form in this place. The peaks of the current Rockies, soaring up to 14,000 feet and higher, were created from the remains of the ancestral Rockies from millennia before. So, too, it seems that artists today stand on the shoulders of every artist who came before us. Not only the Michelangelo’s and Jane Austin’s, but those who did their art faithfully and honestly and were perhaps not remembered for it. Indeed, we all stand on the shoulders of giants.

So when I stand on the magnificent Rockies, I am reminded and re-inspired to do my work, sand grain by sand grain, my piece of moving humanity forward by being an artist. Make sure you do yours, as well.

P.S. My first novel, Seeking Sara Summers , is available on Kindle, as well as iBooks and Barnes and Noble (on the Nook).

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I have a T-shirt given to me by my partner-in-life as a joke that has Elk-a-holic printed on the front. Until two years ago, I never knew this about myself, but it turns out that I can sit for hours and watch elk graze and chew and wander from one side of the meadow to the other. I guess this use of precious time is a bit excessive in our fast-paced, driven world, but something about seeing them in their natural environment gives me a sense of peace.

I never gave elk a thought until I moved to Colorado. Of course that’s probably because I had never crossed paths with an elk before coming here. But now I see them all the time, sometimes hundreds at a time.

To support my elk-a-holism, I have attended nature talks on elk behavior and been the recipient of all sorts of trivia facts about elk. For instance, did you know the antlers of a bull elk can hold up to ten bowling balls on each side? Of course it concerns me how experts know this.

In the service of my addiction, I have also been reprimanded by a park ranger when I got a little too close in my viewing practices. (My closest scrape with law enforcement so far.)

Not to mention that one of my fondest memories to date is of having to stop for an impromptu elk herd crossing while hiking.

Perhaps we all have things we could learn from the “wild” among us. In my more philosophical moments, I wonder if elk have entered my consciousness because they have something to teach me about how to be in the present moment. As far as I know, elk don’t dwell on the past or question themselves about their future. They don’t have an agenda to make money or strive for excellence. Nor do they worry about gas prices or the crisis on Wall Street or how the current election will turn out.  They simple are…elk.