Feelin' The Need For The Beach

The last time I was at the beach I had the most amazing sense of quietude descend upon me, as if a fairy fog had settled on my shoulders and enveloped me in a soft, velvet mist of silence.  In this soundless void, I was able to think clearly, to see my life as it is and where I should go in the future.  Because I was safely nestled in this noiseless bubble of time, I allowed to finally emerge whole story lines and wonderous books that I have been coddling in my soul, nourishing the idea of them until they are ready to be birthed.  I heard them in the crash of the waves, I felt them in the salt spray on my face, I saw them in the sea foam that danced across the damp, packed sand. 

There is a distinct clarity of thought to be found in the silence of the ocean.  Silence?  Yes, I find silence at the ocean's doorway.  The steady ebb and flood, ebb and flood, quiets all the noise that constantly fills my head at such a high volume that I can't hear my soul or answer the call of my heart.  It's a hypnotic soothing, much like a mother gently rocking her beloved newborn and humming nameless, heartfelt tunes.

I need that babying of spirit, that cystal clear clarity of thought now. The high, the pride, the happy-dance phase of writing a novel (my first novel!) has gone.  The mechanics of what's next with my book have all been listed and categorized and research plans have been made.  This book will not be finished until probably April at the earliest.  My daily life is once again interfering with the life I want to live and I'm working hard to accept both sides of my life's equation: working woman/writer. Stifling my creativity is having some strange side effects that I recognize but would be inappropriate to speak of here.

I need to go back to the water's edge, I need to be absorbed in the rhythym of the waves and draw upon her strength to bolster my own.  I am alone and have to find ways to take care of myself, to nurture me.  This is my way to do it: the beach.

Until tomorrow....

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“I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.” -- T. S. Eliot
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