Last week we had a heat wave. Convenient timing with me being temporarily out of work. I decided to become a beach bum. Actually on the first Monday of my new "temporarily unemployed" status I thought I would go to the air conditioned library partly because I don't have an air conditioner but mostly to ignore all the laundry, dishes, and other daily chores that I usually squeeze in before and after working hours. These were now my work days and I knew that sipping coffee while listening to old tunes from the 80s would only lead to long stretches of dusting and washing - things I generally do in a frenzy, not at leisure. So netbook in hand, to the library I went.
The problem with the library and it's unlimited resources (and air conditioning) is that it also has internet. In front of the computer with internet meant I would quickly check my email, and then Facebook, and then other blogs, and then Facebook - well someone was talking to me- and then the writing forums, and then email again. I certainly had Final Draft opened as well as Word - hadn't quite decided what to work on - and ultimately did very little writing.
So the next day I decided to go to the beach - no internet. I had my chair, towel, camera, sunblock, lunch, frozen water, netbook and a regular notebook with pen - and in my bathing suit I went! It was actually pretty great. Even in the shade I couldn't really see the netbook well enough so I used the old pen and paper and picked one project (a script for a comedy idea I had been kicking around for over a year) and started writing the outline. I had previously given the story line some thought so I did have some mental images and I got lost in them.
There were other beach patrons, lots of kids splashing in the water, many birds, and the air was warm and sticky -but none of these things distracted me. It was like I was in my own plane of existence, surrounded in a protective circle. I remember looking up and realizing how I hadn't even noticed so many more people had arrived. I ate my lunch, thought more on my script ideas and then went for a long walk out on the trails that follow the shore.
On my return walk, I decided to go in for a swim. I thought about how I only really mastered floating on my back this year. It's funny how when it comes to trusting others I had always been able to do so "live on the edge" and reach out my hand. Yet, trusting myself... well why didn't I? This is the demon I will conquer this year in reaching my goal of trying new things - expanding my horizons - and this will unleash my inner writer; unlike my writing years of past when I approached the keyboard wearing a buzz like jewelry. So with the help of a friend earlier this summer, I trusted I could float on my back. This first solo- beach day I mastered it and swam about on my back, playing in the water all by myself like a little kid.
I got in more writing before I left and decided to go back the next day. Again, write to the notebook - as in paper and pen (didn't bring the netbook) and cranked out the first scene. A guy who had noticed me the day before when we exchange polite greetings came over to introduce himself. Turns out he is part of the AHC - Appalachian Hiking Club, a club I had recently researched and considered joining. We talked briefly, exchanged emails, then I ate my lunch and decided to go for another nature walk. This time I took my beach bag with my notebook, camera, etc. I walked quite a ways, no longer able to hear any of the beach patrons but instead the chipper of busy chipmunks and calls of various birds. I didn't hear anything from the snake I almost stepped on but since he didn't slither I was able to get a couple pictures.
As I thought out my script, I would stop along different points and write and then walk some more. One particular spot, caught in the shot above, I spent a great deal of time at while finishing up the second scene. I decided I was enjoying myself way too much and would bring my daughter the next day as soon as school let out (I did). Yep, I believe that officially made me a beach bum, especially if I count that I went out to the ocean the Sunday before. But the weather was amazing for late August/early September and the amount of writing I got in - along with a little bit more color, was well worth the time. That evening and in the mornings to follow at home I transferred from paper to my netbook and I have continued to work on the script. Just this morning (Labor Day) I was impressed that for two hours straight from the time I woke up I wrote before checking email or Facebook.
So ends another weekend and starts another work week where I don't have to dress up into office clothes. The heatwave has broken and the forecast shows average temperatures for this week -in the 70s. Tia back to school, friends and family back to work. Well I think this week I will do some hiking - with pen and paper!
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