HAVEN

3 : a place offering favorable opportunities or conditions (a haven for artists)

I'm not much of a "do-er." I'm not terribly motivated by my to-do list, nor do I get enormous satisfaction from completely a project. I do the things that need to be done, but I live for the less tangible things - a quiet moment with a cup of hot tea, finishing a good book or finding just the right word when I'm writing something. But today I've been "doing" non-stop for about six hours.

Nearly a week ago, I started reading Escaping Into The Open: The Art of Writing True. The first exercise in the book is to fantasize, as explicitly as possible, about what your life would be like as a writer. I had no trouble envisioning myself in a quiet spot upstairs, with my desk overlooking the window and inspiring books on art and women nearby. That spot didn't exist when I fantasized about it, but it does exist now. I spent the last six hours pushing furniture around, lugging items to and from our basement and re-arranging our house to make my vision a reality.

J left mid-morning with B to go run errands and while he was gone I was struck with an almost irresistible urge to start moving furniture around to see if I could create some sort of space like the one I had fantasized about. I put A to work briefly and K came up to see what I was doing. I had planned to try to get it all done before J returned, which I can now say was woefully optimistic. Even with his help, it took me another four hours after he returned home!

When I told J what I was up to, he said, "It's like your pregnant with possibilities and are nesting." It was funny that he described it that way because it's exactly how I felt. I was compelled to not just start this project today, but finish it. Maybe having taken this step will encourage me forward as I try other, more terrifying, steps towards giving birth to a book.