Lammas Intent: Write, write, write!

August 2 marked the mid-point between summer solstice and fall equinox, a holy day called Lammas, or Lughnasad. Lammas is the first of three harvest festivals that celebrate the ripening of grain, fruit, and vegetables that sustain life. Even though we are blessed to have constant bountiful harvests every time we hunt and gather at the grocery store, I like connecting to the earth's rhythms and remembering that there are seasons for everything.

For me summer is a season to up my play quota and to harvest ripening projects. This weekend I went to the beach and spent hours floating in the warm salty water (I love the Gulf), making sand castles, and learning to boogie board. Part of my intent was to clear the space to make a big shift in my life around my writing.

I tend to go in cycles with my writing; I am an expert in the procrastinate-adrenaline method of creation. Over the years I've discovered the beauty in the slow and steady method, but it only wins out periodically; mostly I use looming deadline monsters as my incentive to write.

And here is my line in the sand to myself: To make writing my primary job, rather than something I squeeze in between emails and laundry. This has always been my heart's desire, but I always seems to find at least one million other things that urgently need to get done first before I can settle in to write.

Which brings me to Stephen King.

Most people know Stephen King as an author of well-written downright creepy or upright thought-provoking books. I know Stephen King as a guiding light for me as an author.

In his book, On Writing, Stephen kicks writer butt. He describes the muse not as some little twinkling fairy who flies over and sprinkles magic dust on your computer, but a surly, cigar smoking fellow who lives in the basement. Our job as writers, Stephen explains, is not to wait like a longing lover for the muse to bless us with an abundance of profound words. Our job as writers is to move into the basement, furnish an apartment for the muse, and get to work.

Stephen goes on to describe what actions support muse relations: A place to write that has a door one can close on the world. A desk, not facing a window, but facing a blank wall. Specific writing hours. No phones or emails or distractions. Writing at least 20,000 words a day, or about ten pages.

I imagine Stephen King sitting down at his desk, day in and day out, writing, and I am inspired (he admits that he writes on holidays and his birthday.) Last night I took this inspiration into action. I set up a tiny table in our back bedroom, facing the wall. I made a weekly schedule. I even created a new user profile for my computer. Now I can log out of noise of my emails and to do lists and log into a new screen that has a picture of still water and gives me access to what I need to write, nothing more.

For the month of August I plan to harvest heaps of words, and to craft those words into a book. I now have an agent and an editor who are guiding me to share my core gifts to a mainstream audience. But more importantly than any one book or writing project, I aim to grow into a steady, dedicated writer who writes no matter what. Aho!