I’ve been a little scattered this week. Still recovering and no energy, plus traveling home last night. So I just sat down at my desk to pause for a moment. To situate myself, I reread yesterday’s post.
And my first thought was that what I wrote yesterday was not true.
Oh dear. Some of you may remember that yesterday I wrote that it was as good as it gets if the window where I write faces the sea. I have now edited that post to read that it’s better if the window where I write faces the sea.
It’s as good as it gets if the window where I write faces Provincetown Harbor, a very cozy bit of water that fits in the palm of the cupped hand that is the tip of Cape Cod.
~
365 true things about me
why this daily practice
Oh my. What shall I do when the year is up? I’ve come to rely on your daily posts. Always interesting, often thought provoking. Okay, always thought provoking. So there!
Marielle, it’s so good to hear from you again. Thank you, and thanks for reading. You’re the bestest : )
Cynthia… This so reminds me of Point Roberts…
on the opposite shore of your ‘homeland’…
https://fromsaudiwithlove.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/aerial-view-of-point-roberts.jpeg
“Almost Heaven… Almost Canada”
and yes…
I rented a cottage there in the summer of ’86… 🙂
“What’s life like on a five-square-mile patch of U.S. soil
at the tip of a Canadian peninsula?”
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0408/feature7/
I agree, Helena, there is a similarity. I’m happy to know about Point Roberts.
btw… it was the spring of ’86…
a rented cottage owned by friendly
Canadians… for their summertime fun!
I loved walking the tidal flats
and returned to visit in ’96…
as a live-aboard yachter.
Thank you for the memories… 🙂
Thought provoking… indeed!
ps… You can see the San Juan Isles
at the top of the aerial photo…
they being the location of the
Sea Kayaking Adventure Workshop
offered by ‘Writing by Writers’
http://writingxwriters.org/adventures/sea-kayaking-adventure/
Tidal flats and the San Juan Islands–nice, Helena. Might you sign up for a return visit to the area?
Tempting… 🙂
Pam Houston’s name caught my attention & I am kayak friendly… 🙂
Thou… I would prefer a 5 day workshop… plus 2 additional days at either end… to arrive/settle in & pack-up/to leave… SLOW travel being the ideal pace for me!
btw… Hubby & I have been talking of a vacation on America’s eastern seaboard…which would be this coming September… and if so… I would be signing up for a workshop in ‘your’ area… 🙂
Might you have any suggestions?
Helena, I will pass on your requests for the future : ) And I don’t have any suggestions for September but will listen out. In October, there’s Writing by Writers Tomales Bay. If I see anything else, I’ll let you know.
Cynthia… well thank you so much for passing on my preferences… thou I can appreciate the import of a weekend workshop for those who are otherwise engaged during the week… 🙂
I mapped Tomales Bay… http://goo.gl/maps/uR3kH… and am delighted to see its locale… for I lived in San Rafael for a year back in the early 80s… love those Marin County headlands!
Will file for now… and greatly appreciate your eyes & ears… on workshops as they surface… from saudi with love xxx
It ALL sounds good, Cynthia 😀
Thanks, Donna : )
Funny that you should want to amend and postscript what you said in that post, b/c I feel the same way about the comment I left there. I said that I am an ocean person and wondered what that means for my writing. And then as I clicked the link to the next post, I thought, but wait, yes, I love the ocean like no other landscape, but how often do I actually SEE the ocean, and how often have I written while enjoying an ocean view? I see the ocean a lot more often these days b/c it pops up when you least expect it while driving from place to place in Maine, but I still very rarely actually visit the ocean or stay at a beach. And I could count on one hand the number of times I have written anything creative while enjoying an ocean view. So do we internalize these landscapes and they shape our writing wherever we happen to be… or can they only shape our writing when we are actually in that landscape, enjoying it WHILE we write? If they shape our writing at all, and if it’s in the second way–only when we’re actually in that landscape–then my writing is mostly shaped by the topography of a rumpled bed or a bargain-priced, pale blue love seat and crappy carpet I really, really, really need to pull up and replace. Yeah, I think that’s right. Untidy, small. Not the best color combinations, but good lumbar support. I think that describes my writing well enough.
Oh I think the answer is definitely that the longing for ocean, whether we’re there or not, must shape our writing. And then actually looking at it or listening to it adds something else to the pot. It’s a fascinating question–wouldn’t it be great to compare the work of three different writers–an ocean writer, a mountain writer, and a no landscape writer–to see what was there or not…