My Writing Retreat

It was a lovely weekend by the sea.

I took another writing retreat (these are getting more common in my life), but this one was much more restful and rejuvenating. I admit, I was rather proud of myself, because I think I am getting much better at cultivating a creative process that is actually enjoyable, and not just obsessive and exhausting. Last time I went to the cabin to write, I took one sorry little excursion away from my computer. This time, I allowed myself ample time to roam around the cliffs overlooking the sea, read poetry, lay in the sunshine, and make delicious food. I usually gave myself three writing sessions a day that were about 1-2 hours long; I discovered that having limits for my work time and giving myself rewards was a much happier and even more efficient way to go.

I had such a delightful time, AND I wrote some decent stuff. I think writing is getting easier for me…slowly.

The illustrious Mr. Rigsby joined me for a day, as well, and my stomach muscles are still sore from laughing so much. He wins the award for the person most likely to crack me up. He did a good job of letting me work, and he did a good job of encouraging me to go lay by the pool, too. Mr. Rigsby is very skilled at loafing–among his other talents, of course– so he is teaching me how also to loaf. The first hot sunshine of the summer was an excellent invitation to leave the cabin, abandon my words, and just go play outside. As usual, I have beaten Mr. Rigsby at acquiring the first summer tan (don’t worry, I even use sunscreen), and I am still as vain as ever about this 13 year competition between us.

All in all, it was very hard to come back from the weekend. When I got home last night, I bought dinner and sat out on the grass at 10 p.m., just sort of picnicking on a beautiful summer evening and refusing to go inside. These summer days are glorious, but the summer nights might be even more exquisite. Last evening, there was that warm, refreshing breeze that I haven’t felt since last August.

Introducing Nick Vu

I have been meaning to introduce Nick Vu to you for quite a while, because he is going to be famous, and it will be extraordinarily fun for me that you first heard about him on my blog. Nick Vu is one of those people who is destined to catalyze large-scale social trends, like the tech genius who started Facebook or the unknown mastermind who got legions of men to sport the faux hawk in cities across America. Nick Vu is currently working on a top-secret project, and you can go to http://waxartistic.com/ to find out more.

Nick Vu is also one of the founding members of West Wing, a group of 4 of us who meet twice a month to provide support to each other as we envision and create what we want in our lives. (This group has been absolutely necessary for me as I write my book.) Each of us is taking risks towards our goals, and we check in on our fears, our desires, our dreams, our roadblocks, and our sleeping strategies. (Some of us are a wee bit obsessive compulsive, so we need to be reminded to sleep.)

Nick Vu is trained in cognitive behavioral psychology. He likes data and charts, and so he is good for the rest of us. All the other members of West Wing are trained in interpersonal therapy, so we like to talk at great length about the deep treasure trove of our unconscious and how it's effecting our style of relating, but Nick Vu wants to make Excel spreadsheets of whether we met our goals for the week. He balances us out, and we balance him out, so it’s very good.

You should also know that Nick Vu also raids the public libraries more than anyone I know. He averages about 50 books a year, which he listens to on CDs or his IPod. The man has brilliant ideas churning in his head.

And finally, you should know that Nick Vu comes over to my house every Monday morning for a 2.5-hour study hall and then a lunch break. We set our timers and we work; he works on his top-secret project, and I work on my book. We are very studious and there is very little talking. At 11:45, we break for lunch. He brings random ingredients, we look through my cupboards for more random ingredients, and we create culinary masterpieces. Nick Vu actually enjoys eating as much as I do. One day, I think he and I should write a cookbook together.

(And yes, for some reason it has become fashionable for us to refer always to one other with our surnames included. He calls me KimGeorge, like it's one word.)

New Article

I have a new article up at theooze.com for those interested. It is on domestic violence, so not exactly happy reading. I think I need my next article to be about the happier sides of life...but for those interested in DV, here it is.

I didn't exactly get rave reviews on the last article I wrote for them (one reader pretty much condemned me to hell), so things can only get better, right? Here goes....