Time & Space
I’ve just returned from a three-week writing residency – a dream of an adventure that wasn’t about miles logged but rather the travel that happens in the mind.
The kind that invited me into a different time-space continuum where I didn’t have to think about making dinner.
That allowed thoughts to saunter in instead of being corralled or muscled.
That gave me days-on-end in a beautiful space where creatives have created for more than 100 years before I got there and saturated the whole place with delicious energy.
It was mega-productive and I intend to share about that more here in the months to come.
Am I proud of the work I did there? Heck yeah! But I say this not to toot my horn or rouse jealousy. I think we forget that making art is not a competition.
But speaking of competitions, it’s worth mentioning that it took me three tries for a yes at this residency and I was ultimately waitlisted. It would have been easy to get discouraged and initially I was. But if you want something, you’ve got to advocate for it, right? So I emailed and called and I believe that’s how I made it off that waitlist and onto the campus.
I ask you, what if I hadn’t called?
Mostly what I want to say is how vital it is to make time and space for art making, even if it’s just a few hours. How valuable it is to leave behind the ring, click, tap, tick and tock of our daily life and go somewhere with different sounds – or fewer sounds – to allow your own thoughts to meander in. What a joy to listen to yourself instead of others. You may rediscover, as I did, how much you enjoy your own company .
How amazing it feels to reintroduce yourself to yourself.
I say schedule it. Fight for it. Get to a café. Or a library. Or a forest preserve. Or a friend’s empty house.
The world needs what comes out of this concentrated time. Out-of-the-box thinking. Innovation. Truth telling. Beauty making. Wisdom sharing.
And only time and space can make that happen.
Photo by EBB.
Upcoming Workshops
“From Brokenness to Healing: Making Meaning Through Memoir.” Ritualwell (online). Six-week workshop on writing trauma from a place of strength and craft. Tuesdays, April 25 - May 23, 2023, 11-1
Writing for Wellness: The Healing Power of Personal Narrative. Naomi Ruth Cohen Institute for Mental Health Conference. In person. Evanston, IL. Saturday, June 10.