TO NATURE (AND NURTURE) YOUR WRITING by Savannah Hendricks

Last year, I had the opportunity to take a road trip to California and attend the Wrightwood Literary Festival. Never having been to the Wrightwood area I was excited about the adventure. I had no idea what to expect. Yet, it’s in California, right outside of the city, how different could it be? The flyer showed a forest landscape, clearly a stretch of the imagination, I assumed. As I approached the town evergreens popped up, growing thicker and thicker as I continued on. Was this an extension of Disneyland? How real were these trees?

Wrightwood is a picturesque small town, the population around four hundred, nestled up in the mountains just north of San Bernardino. And yes it’s real, even the trees. I touched them to make sure. The area was not only beautiful but rich with small-town charm and warm-hearted residents. The number of writers the festival can accommodate is low, so it’s a close-knit group where networking is easier than at a large conference.

The Wrightwood Literary Festival, while about writing, was much more than that. It was about nature. When you’re there it’s hard to avoid surrounding yourself in anything other than the thoughts of how we are connected to nature. And this event was different from any other writing event I have been too. Usually, these things are full of big names, from agents to editors to publishers. Where the entire conference you are more worried about pitching and meet-and-greets, that everything becomes stressful and overwhelming. This was all about taking a breath, and relaxing and grounding yourself. To center yourself and open your senses.

After the festival, I parked and wandered around. I ventured inside two antique shops, a local grocery store, a pizza place, and the town’s tiny pet shop. (They had animals for adoption. I nearly left with a senior Beagle/Hound mix.) Pine needles covered every square inch of the ground and the air was as clean as fresh laundry. The towering trees filtered the sunlight, casting angles of diamond-shaped light all around. Houses blended into the shades of greens and browns of nature. I was standing in a snowglobe town without any snow.

When I think of writing I think of it, not as an action, but a reaction to the world around me. I have the following question and answer on my blog: Why do I write? Because to write, is to listen, to everyone, including yourself. This statement is everything I feel as a writer. When you’re in nature your senses are awoken. You hear, smell, touch, and you might even taste (there have been some yummy huckleberries on a trailhead in Washington I rather enjoyed back in my twenties). Hopefully, when your writing these senses are engaged as well. As I write I transport myself into the story, much like when I’m out in nature, I’m in the moment. My mind focused on me, nothing to distract me from my own thoughts as I listen.

So, while at the festival didn’t gather notes about writing, nor how to pitch or how to submit. I came away with something even better. I remembered to breathe. I remembered why I write in the first place. I remembered to shut out the distractions and look to nature to create amazing stories. I write because writing is as natural to me as nature is to the Earth.

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Savannah Hendricks is also the author of Nonnie and I, a picture book about first day of school anxieties, set in Botswana. Her stories have been included in over 20 children’s magazines, and is the co-author of Child Genius 101: The Ultimate Guide to Early Childhood Development: Vol 1 & 2. Visit her at https://theseashellsoflife.wordpress.com/

Grounded in January –

Kate Wilson hates to admit it, but she’s unhappy and can’t figure out why. Fearful of flying yet determined to find a reason for her unhappiness, she boards a flight headed for her Washington hometown.

Inn of the Woods owner and pilot, Oxnard Swanson struggles with accepting his multiple sclerosis diagnosis, realizing his dreams of marriage and a family might be over. Determined, he bides his time managing the inn, piloting his Cessna, and training his rescue dog, Bayou.

Sparks quickly fly between Oxnard and Kate, when a snow storm forces her to find refuge in the Inn of the Woods. Maggie, a wise guest, suggests the couple step outside, where the magic of the snow offers answers to their search for happiness and a second chance at love.

 

Tags: featured, women writers

Category: Contemporary Women Writers, On Writing