Writing the Islands: November 2008

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“The novelist Charlie Smith said to me around that time, ‘Just write the islands,’ meaning, ‘Just write the scenes you can see and it will all come together eventually’” (Novelist Patricia Henley, quoted in Andrew Scott, “Taking the Soulful Journey,” The Writer’s Chronicle 35, no. 6, p. 7).

For years now I’ve wanted to write a book on the connections between the physical and the spiritual, but I haven’t been able to do it, for various reasons, not the least of which is my inability to see it—to have a sense of how to structure it and go about writing it.

I suppose this blog is a bit of an experiment. Paradoxically, writing a polished piece for publication can induce writer’s block, yet writing in notebooks and on loose sheets of paper doesn’t get the creative juices flowing the way that writing for some sort of an audience can. Perhaps a blog combines the best of both worlds, providing motivation without creating the sort of pressure that discourages writing.

Or maybe not.

I don’t know whether this is a good idea. I don’t know how often I’ll post. I don’t know whether I’ll even keep this up. Whatever happens, the purpose of this blog is to serve as a sketchbook, a place to “write the islands,” in the hope that the topography will begin to reveal itself someday.

Writing the Islands

Monday, November 10, 2008

November in Michigan

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