Healing at the Beach
The Carolina beaches have always held a special place in my heart, which you probably know if you've read my debut novel, Breathing. This week I've been at one of those Carolina beaches with my extended family. The one we chose this time is one of the widest beaches you'll ever see, the water as calm as a lake and as warm as a bath, the sun as hot as you can comfortably tolerate. It's been relaxing and healing to take a week to let nature piece us back together. Some of us are water babies -- no matter what kind of mood we're in, we dive into the salty sea and find ourselves feeling light and silly and whole. Others are sun babies -- just lying in the sun, the heat baking our skin, revives us, fills us with our own selves in a way we've been missing. And some of us are sand babies. It's the warm sand between our toes, the cradling of the earth around us that allows us to sink back into our skin out of the busyness of the world, helps us find our way home.
I've been reading this week and journaling. But I've been intentionally holding off on returning to writing. Nevertheless, as I lie on the beach, letting my mind wander, my characters sneak in and pull at me, which I love. During our week at the hospital, when the characters weren't around I missed them. I worried if they mattered at all. I worried if they'd ever come back. It isn't the first time in my life I've asked the question. When life gets intense, invisible friends can get scared away. When we're caught up in the left brain -- the part that's trying to figure out a way past life's difficulties, it can be hard to find our way back to our right mind -- that place where our characters live and breathe.
When hard times hit, remember this: The characters always come back. They do. And I love all the little ways they find to sneak into my consciousness and tease me to want to play with them. I might drift into left-brained thinking, trying to solve a problem, and they tug me right back to right-brained dreaming. And as I've found this week, lounging on the beach, letting my mind drift is the perfect way to fall back into that dreamland.
So if life has you feeling stuck, seek out those experiences that allow you to slip into your right mind. That's where you'll find your invisible friends, the characters whose story longs to be told. Happy hunting 
Posted by Cheryl at 8/12/2011 6:45 AM 
Categories: travel, life; inspiration; writing
Tags: writers block writing inspiration dreaming writers block
Categories: travel, life; inspiration; writing
Tags: writers block writing inspiration dreaming writers block
I loved this post. I am glad that you were able to have a chance to relax, rejuvenate, and play with the characters in your mind! I hope that your daughter is doing well too.
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Thanks so much. I'm glad you enjoyed the post. It's been a great week, and my daughter is doing much better. Thanks!!
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