Zen in Writing and Spring

Copyright by Kim Smith

I've been on a virtual book tour for a long time now—the whole month of February. Today, I was home for a bit and I stood in my front yard and looked at a now-budding tree, and at a cardinal who flew up and peered down at me before flitting off again. There is something so thrilling about spring whether it's your first or forty- eighth. And I am anxious to see more. Like the first iris’ appearing
in the front bed or a baby bird or the opening of blossoms on my Daddy’s rose bushes. I always think spring is my favorite season. But then summer comes. And then fall. As for winter, well...That is when I have my birthday, so of course…

And isn’t writing a new book sort of like the newness of spring? Everything is so good, and new, and fresh. You put fingers to keyboard or pen to pad and it is just good. I think that so many aspiring authors never get to the end because they are in love with that first blush of a story. One that leaps off the page and won’t let them be. The one where the characters wake them up in the middle of the night, talking and talking about their story.

Oh you know what I mean!

It’s like two old friends meeting again for the first time. They have so much they want to say and they spend oodles of time catching up over a cup of coffee and when they are allowed to take a breath they realize how much fun they are having.
Writing a new story is like that. The fun part of creativity.



I had time to spend with my friend, Liz, and she told me she is shutting down the thoughts about her book for a while. It’s a family thing. Her family is young and they need her time far more than her book life needs her time. I told her it was okay to set it aside. It will still be there in a few months when she can once again seek it out like long searching fingers looking for someone to hold onto.

And so it is. Sometimes we have to say no to that work that we keep looking at and wanting to tinker with. Sometimes the timing just isn’t what we can fit in. I say, so what? Do what must be done and enjoy the life you have.

Sooner or later, you will come back to this creature you have been piecing together like a paper Frankenstein. You will nudge it with your writing toe and it will be there, waiting for you to breathe new life into it. And won’t you be thrilled to find that freshness, that aroma of a new work, blow through your mind?

Kim Smith is the author of the cozy mystery, Avenging Angel, A Shannon Wallace Mystery. Her latest short story is now available at : http://www.alongstoryshort.net/threeamigos.html