Breathing room
I'm finishing off several projects and others are at last moving into stages where they are manageable. My "writing" vacation ... with my big dictionary, thesaurus, and novel MS, was originally to have started next week, but it's been put off a week and probably will need to move into May or June ... chances are good I won't have a vacation now until Labor Day.
I am not complaining. I have several interesting projects and stories going on, a fun query in the works and a column on Jack Kerouac to begin.
Still, I think back to January and my dreams of working on the novel this spring. I hoped to drop everything and finish a draft by August ... now that seems laughable ... when I get away from it like this sometimes I fear I won't be able to remember where I was going ... or have feelings for the characters ... when I am focused for several days on the book they become real for me and I care about moving them along in their lives. I also lose touch with the outside world ... a necessary cost of writing sometimes.
On Sunday, I attended a teaching by a Buddhist monk on the 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva. The Venerable Kenpo Ugyen Tenzin was in Greenville from his home at the Karma Triyana Dharmachakra Monastery in Woodstock, N.Y.
I was unable to attend the teaching on Saturday but the Sunday session was very moving. I emerged with a sense of calm and hope.
