Ladies & Gents:
I spent a long weekend at the Godspeed Hostel in Port Matilda, Pa. at the Barrelhouse Writer Camp. I was the invited author but I had a blast too in an absolutely beautiful setting. Fall finally getting here helped. I got in 15 solid miles on the Lower Trail too – rails to trails are the traveling runner's friend.
While I was there, I finished reading Rebecca Smith's The Jane Austen Writers' Club, and toward the end she has a bit about writer's block that I loved: "Writing is the only profession where people talk about being 'blocked'. It's lucky that the ambulance drivers aren't suddenly struck down by 'paramedics' block'." (it's a UK book hence the punctuation).
I'm dealing with a very stressful situation (I'm healthy and fine so no worries on that), and I went into camp agitated beyond belief about just having made a decision on how to reach the end of that situation. I did not want to write. No way did I feel that I could move ahead with anything other than fretting about that issue.
But I locked myself into my cabin, sat down at my computer, and started banging on the keyboard anyway. At first, the writing came haltingly, then, as I kept on with it, flowed. About two hours later, I had…two hours of work done that wouldn't have gotten done if I had harrumphed about something else. Then I met with a writer (in my role as the alleged expert at camp) and told her to knock it off with her excuses as to why she couldn't write or move forward with her book proposal because, to me at least, a lot of them seemed superficial or a way to mask fear about what would happen if the memoir was really published. I may not have been kind, but she said she appreciated the kick in the butt.
Writing, in a lot of ways, is just producing widgets, like everyone else. I tend not to be too romantic about the process, or what it produces. I think it helps me be an efficient writer, if not the best writer out there.
Anyway – coming up! The Collingswood Book Festival on Saturday, Oct. 1. I must walk an entire two blocks to get there. I know. Life is hard (unless it rains – then I must walk a few more blocks to the indoor/bad weather location). But really: I'm jazzed to be speaking at my hometown book festival – for the second time! I'm leading an informal group run at 9:30 a.m. (rain or shine) then speaking (after a shower of course) at 2pm. And I have many more book dates coming up! The list is here.
What I'm Reading
I'm bouncing back and forth between the Arthur Miller essays and Grandfather Mountain: The History and Guide to an Appalachian Icon by Randy Johnson. I climbed some of Grandfather while in North Carolina and wanted to learn more. The book is fascinating! But it's coffee table book sized and hard to take with me when I usually read, like when I take PATCO into Philly (which is when I grab the Miller).
What I'm Watching
Still on Supergirl. Still enjoying it.
Until next time,
Jen A. Miller
jenamiller.com
runningalovestory.com
twitter.com/byjenamiller
insteagram.com/jenamillerrunner
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