Susanna J. Sturgis   Martha's Vineyard writer and editor
writer editor born-again horse girl

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Drifty

November 06, 2009

I'm daring to believe that To Be Rather Than to Seem is really UNDER WAY. Picking it up in the morning is easy. Once I get going, I don't count the minutes till I can quit. Ideas slip into my mind at odd hours. Several times already the scene-setting for an incident has turned out to have a center of its own. A couple of mornings ago, I lit my candles, took a deep breath, and set out to write about being on the student government finance committee at both Georgetown and Penn. My involvement in student government stemmed directly from my involvement in the antiwar movement, which taught me a few things about dealing with the university administration. This morning I finished a pretty good draft of "Negotiation 101," about conning, no, make that "persuading" the Jesuits to let demonstrators from out of town crash on university property.

Hah! Just typing that reminded me of something I left out, which was that our pitch included a liberal helping of biblical allusions to good Samaritans and welcoming the stranger. I'll squeeze that in tomorrow and then get on with the finance committee piece. See?

When I'm deeply immersed in the writing and I have to quit for the day, I'm not quite dazed but definitely drifty. I've been trying to segue directly into my current editing job, which is on screen, not on paper. Doesn't work. I start a game of Tetris, abort it when I'm clearly blowing it, try Rat Poker, can't focus on that either, get up, sit down, brush Travvy . . . This morning I finally remembered that when I knock off writing, I have to do something physical. Go walking or biking with Travvy if weather permits, bake bread or cook something or vacuum if it doesn't. This morning I vacuumed (Travvy isn't quite done blowing his summer coat, even though his winter coat is coming in), then Travvy and I went for a bike ride.

The year may be waning -- after the hard frost of a couple weeks ago, the leaves turned abruptly brown, and now at least half of them are on the ground -- but To Be Rather Than to Seem is sending up new shoots and tendrils. I keep adding ideas to my "subjects" file. It's going to keep me busy for a while, I do believe.

 

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