Lessons learned on the fly
Dashing in on this fine, frenzied Monday to share with you epic wisdom learned over the weekend while teaching a fiction workshop with the talented Lisa Samson at her divine Cuppa Tea Cafe in Lexington, Kentucky.
1. Beautiful places that are lush and verdantly green get a lot of rain. It takes rain and humidity and sticky heat to create that shade of green and so much of it. Note to self: Beauty is often forged from desperately cloudy, wet and uncomfortable days.
2. You can be methodical (an outliner) or spontaneous (a non- outliner) or you can be methodically spontaneous. Or spontaneously methodical. Let’s take a vote. I choose methodically spontaneous. MS. As in manuscript. . .
3. Tea is comfort. Loose tea is so wonderfully comforting because it hasn’t had the life thrashed out of it. It has not been pulverized into particles. It still resembles its former life. A leaf . . .
4. Use your great aunt’s tea cups. They are so beautiful. In a hundred years they won’t mean anything to anybody. And they will have slid into useless anonymity unappreciated. Sure, you might break one. But seriously. What is a tea cup for if not for tea?
5. There is more outside your door than you are usually expecting to experience sensorially. Raise your expectations. Open your eyes. Breathe deep. Touch. Listen. There is more. . .
6. Sorrel is a beautiful color. It is beautiful to say. It is beautiful to hear. It looks nice on the page. Go beyond the 8-color crayon box.
7. There is a story inside of you. Perhaps many. You should tell them.
Off I go now to freshen my tea cup before I plunge back into the writing cave. Enjoy your week, Edglings. . .