Filling the Well

by Janis Susan May/Janis Patterson

Writers are givers, and that's a problem. First of all we have the normal obligations everyone does - family, home, job, civic and religious responsibilities - all of which take time and energy. Then on top of all this we also write, which is a very draining occupation. Using nothing more than imagination (and for a lot of us, caffeine) we have to create worlds and populations and both actions and reactions in a coherent format - to say nothing of editing, spelling, selling, publicity.... etc. - and they all take from us. (I've always wondered how we can give so much of ourselves and still not lose an ounce - we should all be at least size zero...)

Let's face it, we can only give so much without getting to the point where we have nothing left. We need to re-fill our well. Nothing can be created in the vacuum of fatigue and stress. The question is how to do it, because it has to be done. Time is a problem for all of us, but this is important, both for us as writers and as individuals.

We have to find our 'safe and happy place' even if it exists only in our heads, a place where we can turn off our brains for a short time and allow the well to refill. I am arthritic, which is not much fun and most people would not consider fortunate, but through this I found my happy place. Exercise helps arthritis, but as I am large it was both painful and nearly impossible, so my rheumatologist prescribed a hot tub. As we have a large back yard it was an excellent solution, one which pleases both me and The Husband.

And it became my happy place where I turn off my brain and allow my thoughts free rein. While most writing work is done in the head, I don't allow it when I'm in the tub. I go out just about every morning when the weather is clement (and sometimes when it's not!) and just exist. Oh, I do my exercises - which I hate - but in a way they're kind of Zen. I don't have to think, I don't have to do anything but just be. And move my legs. It's almost as refreshing as a holiday. Maybe more. I sit and watch the trees, whether in bud, full leaf, or bare branch. There are birds and cheeky squirrels (though I could do without them!) and, in season, hummingbirds attracted by my myriad feeders.

Now I'm not so silly as to believe that a hot tub is right, or accessible, or possible, or even desirable to everyone. Another person's happy place might be a park bench, or a coffee shop, or an exercise session, or a short meditation, or a shopping mall, or maybe just a quiet quarter hour with a cup of coffee and a doughnut. Happy places are as individual as fingerprints, and are always limited by both availability and price, just like everything else in the world. But you have to have one. What I am calling a happy place is a sanity saver, and Heaven knows writers need all the sanity we can get!

Find your happy place and let your well refill. You and your writing will prosper from it.