We all have moments of finding writer’s nirvana – those times when there is no separation between you and the page, when the writing flows in one continuous stream of inspired imagery, language and metaphor, when you know without a doubt that all you ever want to do is to write.
‘Who cares if my writing never sees the light of day’ you find yourself thinking in these windows of pure clarity when the distractions of the mind are vanquished in the sheer joy of entering so completely into the creative flow. The nagging questions of ‘will I ever finish, will I ever publish, will I succeed brilliantly or fail miserably,’ become irrelevant.
It just doesn’t matter!
Of course we know such moments won’t last, something happens to interrupt you and you bemoan the fact it may take you days, months, even weeks to get back in the flow again. Like wanting to dive back into a wonderful dream before it is over – if only you could work out how to recreate the conditions that got you there.
We forget that all you have to do is enter into the present, wherever you are – be still, observe, describe what you see, begin again from this moment, not the one you had once before or the one you long for again, but this moment, now.
We have been remembering this on our Mekong Writers Lab in Luang Prabang, Laos. The great river flows by with all its strength and power, just as our stories flow on (regardless of whether we want to listen to them or not), in the deep underground recesses of our hearts and minds. With a little help and support from each other we remember how to step into the canoe without capsizing, how to take the paddle and stroke confidently until we are far enough out into the current to let go, to give in to the force of the river and find our way back to writer’s nirvana, realising that it was there all the time and all that had happened was – we had just lost our way up the proverbial creek.
Coming up
December – Cambodia Workshop Tour
March – Fiji Writers Lab
June – Desert Writers
July – Backstage Bali
and check out our new trip for Jan 2013 – Moroccan Caravan
