Taking a break

I took a break from presenting this summer to work on a new book. Then, having turned in my manuscript to my publisher, I took a break from writing with daily word-count goals. Going off-line and on the road, I took the advice of a friend and left my hefty journal behind. Get something fresh and cute, she suggested. Something tiny to invite a playful, nonlaborious approach to daily writing while traveling.

These pocket-sized journals, compact as passports, are ready for the road. Their little unlined pages await a few small sentences. A tiny turn of phrase or two. Simple sketches. Some lists:

• things left behind
• things found along the way
• sights, sounds, smells, tastes, textures
• names of places, flowers, stones, rivers
• colors of sky
• funny phrases
• contra-dictions
• illusions
• surprises
• questions, all sizes

Why? Because sometimes sentences are like boxes. Too small.

Where will the words go without the gravity and ground of grammar? Not just taking a break for the sake of play. Maybe: imagining something new.

Could be that big. or tiny. healing. Necessary. or fun.

In the remaining weeks of summer’s spaciousness, before your full-calendared fall begins, what fresh, maybe tiny, playful approaches to writing might you take in the days ahead? Can you go off-line for a while, even a day or an hour, to play?