- Wake up at a decent hour: For me, this is usually somewhere between 8:00-9:59 am, depending on how late I was up the night before. Sometimes I stay up until 1-2:00 am writing or reading, as I am a natural night person and feel this is when some of my best creative work happens. When I do stay up this late, I will give myself liberties with "sleeping in"...though if I get up after 10, I often feel guilty. Sometimes I rationalize this by setting my alarm for 9am, for example, so technically I did "wake up" earlier, but since I allow myself to press snooze I don't actually get up until multiple nine-minute increments later.
- I go outside and say "Good Morning" to my dog. Sometimes he is still snug in his dog house (he's not a morning dog, particularly), other times he is casually laying down, alert, near the door of his kennel waiting for me to let him out for the day's playtime in the backyard. He is a very good dog.
- Usually then I will go for a run with Emerson, or a walk--especially if it's sunny--or go workout at the women's place. But sometimes, I will do this later in the day if my schedule allows. [Today is one of those days....because: a) I'm craving coffee really, really bad; b) I have a slight headache; and c) I have too many things to do before my thesis advising meeting this afternoon and can workout after that.] The sun in Spokane is deceiving right now...it's warm and cozy from inside the house, but it's only 32-35 degrees outside. It's still winter.
- Then I check my email, read something interesting online (like some blogs, my MFA friend and Amy Loves Books), read some poetry at Poetry Daily, etc.
- And then I go to Rockwood Bakery to get their house coffee, settle into a padded wooden chair at one of their many tables (preferably one by the windows), and read my books, read new poems, and write in my journal. (My current favorite treat is their Cranberry chocolate-chip muffin. I love it.) Sometimes, it can get really crowded here, and therefore a little too noisy at times to feel like I can concentrate well in my "poetry zone." I like background noise, but I still need to feel like I've got my own private nook in the place.
- Then, after a few hours (and maybe a coffee refill), I head home to type up some new poems or whatever, and continue on with my day.
I've found that my lines of poetry come together best, after I've had some time to brew over them. My news poems are most always ones that have actually been festering as lone images, or really, really rough and disjointed ideas in my journal. Reading other people's good poetry, helps to warm-up my senses, get my verbal brain muscles working. It opens my mind to think about one of my ideas in a new or expanded way. Then I can begin putting together a whole idea, or finish some drafts, or create a turn in a new poem that has stalled.
Of course, not every day is this ideal. I usually go to my part-time job a few days a week, so skip the coffeehouse and get some reading/writing done at home before I leave. Or I'm doing errands, or laundry, or other small tasks, but I always try to have a certain idea for a poem or image ruminating in my mind so I can explore different veins of it before committing it more fully to paper.
Every Tuesday afternoon this quarter, I meet with my thesis advisor Jonathan. He's a wonderful, intelligent man, with a generous and enthusiastic spirit. Aside from his typical greeting ("Hello, Buddy!" with a hug) and our discussions about poetry and my work, Jonathan and I talk about outdoor recreation, running (he's currently training for a marathon), and other writing life issues. He used to have a big dog named Yukon, was once a dog handler for a musher and his sled dog team in Michigan, and his wife is also named Amy. And he not only writes beautiful poetry, but also has a new book of non-fiction coming out March 1. (You can actually order it now, mine is on its way.)
So, Tuesdays are especially good days. They are full of grace.
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