An author's morning

I like to write early in the morning.  I get my coffee and toast with almond butter and fruit jam and yogurt with honey...yum.. and sit down at my computer in my shrine room/writing room.

My desk is set in front of a large window with a south facing view over the foothills cascading down in ridges of lesser elevation toward the central valley.  The view to  the east of our house, which can't be seen out of this window in front of my desk, is the Badger valley rising up to Big Baldy, the focus of this impressive scene.

Big Baldy is a Half Dome like rock in Sequoia National Forest. It always impresses me that beyond the view I see toward the east, beyond Big Baldy, a hawk could fly over forty miles of mountain wilderness, over Mt. Whitney to the desert.

If we saddled up our horses, Sherkai and Khiya, and take along a pack mule to ride over the mountain wilderness, it would be more like one hundred miles weaving  through forests and up steep switchback trails over granite passes, past lakes and down again only to climb up over another pass.  When I spread out the map of the wilderness comprising Sequoia National Forest, Sequoia National & Kings Canyon on my table and look at a trail to hike for a day, an inch is five miles. Beyond that inch is mountain vastness, it would take many days to cross it, maybe more.

To the west of our little ranch are more foothills, coyote and bobcat trails cut through the tall golden grass of summer on the hillside.

There are no lights at night except for the moon and stars. We spend each evening at the end of the day sitting out overlooking the vast open view and gazing up at the stars and the moon.  I feel it is very important to be able to see the stars, it reminds me of the truth of where I am; on a planet spinning in the unknowable.

I love listening to the coyotes call to each other from one end of the valley to the other, each has his and her own unique voice.

So, I like to write early in the morning when I am still a bit in dream state, or not so far from it.  I am very mentally visual at this time...so it is my best time to see the scenes that I write down.  That is really it... I see what is happening in the story and I write it down.  I also do not question what I choose to write in the scene,  I just start writing.  I can always change something later...yay, word programs.  ( I say this because I am old enough to remember typewriters)  Then throughout the day I will reflect on what I wrote and perhaps something will occur to me like... he would not have said that or she would have more likely done this, etc.  The next morning I will go over the previous days writing and make those type of changes.

I focus on getting the story written down, then I can flesh it out, with descriptions, clothes, sounds, smells, etc later.  I do not question my choices, I do not muddy up my creativity that way.  Of course a chapter can begin a hundred ways, why this way? Why not?  I don't confuse myself that way, I trust myself to tell the story. Later the characters help by making themselves known...yes that really does happen...it is a mystery.

Ok, well I was going to do a short bit about when I write and then talk about terma teachings...but I think this is enough for this morning.  Google "terma teachings".  I don't want to cut and paste what they are..next post I will write a bit about these.

 Mmm, good coffee..have a great day.  

Breath, you are alive.  Feel your feet.