Our whole family spent the weekend with another family at their “up north” cabin. That means we drove 4 hours into northern Minnesota, where it seems that 1/3 of the suburbs’ population disappears to every summer weekend. We spent our time boating, swimming, tubing (that’s me having a great time above), playing Guesstures, and just hanging out (well, cooking and doing laundry figured prominently, too). It was lovely.
But, as usual, I was working in my head. I didn’t take any projects with me, and we had no computer for the weekend. But I was still working. Not in a bad way. Just in that way of constantly sifting through images and ideas and feeling a little ping when an idea seems like a good one. We were out in a boat Saturday morning, just the grown-ups, and we saw birds galore. Pelicans (I didn’t even know Minnesota had pelicans!), loons, a heron, some baby ducks of some kind, and a number of bald eagles.
I didn’t have my camera, so I didn’t take this shot (it’s from here). But we did get to see bald eagles circling and hunting, and one swooping down to grab a fish in its talons. Very cool!
And I think writers are like those bald eagles. We’re constantly circling over a world of words, looking for that spark of silver that tells us something good is just below the surface. And if we take the time to pause and dive into it, we’ll come up with something delicious. It might be a single word that’s been eluding us, or an idea for an entirely new project.
In my case, hearing 4 teenage girls interact all weekend (and by interact, I mean giggle, accuse, bicker, snicker, say random weird phrases in Bristish accents, whine, snore, heart each other, draw on each other, stage fights on their animal rafts, etc.) gave me loads of material for a project I’m working on. And the scenery helped me gather details for a project that is in the back of my mind and that I’ll hopefully have time to actually write next year.
Hope you had a good weekend, too!