Sowing the Seeds of Imagination

Vacation weekend is over, and so is my --virtual and physical--booktour. Maybe my gargoyle should be holding one of those checkered finish line flags...but then again, a finish is always a start, too. For me, July feels almost like January--renewed goals, time to get back to 1,000-words a day [mornings are my best time].

Meanwhile, the garden is bearing fruit--actually tomatoes and lots of squash and cucumbers and gourds[!]--and it feels glorious to reap...and prepare for sowing. This feels like one of those "if...then" questions on the SAT: reap is to sow... as published novel is to writing.

I stumbled upon this blog--a fun look at the daily routines of famous people, including writers, who juggle child-raising, jobs, bills, life... Here's a quote from Toni Morrison, who has for years risen at dawn to write:

Writers all devise ways to approach that place where they expect to make the contact, where they become the conduit, or where they engage in this mysterious process. For me, light is the signal in the transaction. It's not being in the light, it's being there before it arrives. It enables me, in some sense.
I tell my students one of the most important things they need to know is when they are at their best, creatively. They need to ask themselves, What does the ideal room look like? Is there music? Is there silence? Is there chaos outside or is there serenity outside? What do I need in order to release my imagination?

-- Toni Morrison
Daily Routines