Deb Lund ad lib

Just yesterday again someone told me that they have always wanted to write, but they didn’t have time. The year I took a sabbatical from teaching, turned 40, and got pregnant was the year I gave up that excuse. I realized I would never have time. That’s also the year I received my first book contract, and by a stroke of luck, had the sense to start a writing critique group. That was over 12 years ago. Now that writing group has been on a sabbatical of sorts for the last year while we work on pieces that aren’t ready to critique. We hope to get back together again. But, the writing life goes on, and I still get support for it from a few other sources.

Our Seattle SCBWI crowd is a focused, diverse, fun-loving bunch. My young savvy friends there put up with this un-hip writer pal and we stay in touch through events, Facebook, and emails.

My “Quarterly Quintet”  gets together for four one-day retreats each year, with an evening meeting between each of them. We don’t critique, but the five of us talk writing and share how our projects are going. Another circle I’m in is a trio that keeps me sane with monthly dinner and journal-writing evenings.

Pierr Pal

And then there’s my writer/illustrator buddy Pierr Morgan who lives up the road from me. She’s always dreamed of playing piano, but doesn’t really want to learn how to read music. When I was little, if you asked me what I wanted to be, my answer was always “an artist.” I help Pierr with piano, she’s getting me to explore art. We don’t critique either, but we listen, laugh, share stories, and support each other with ideas and inspiration. Last Wednesday Pierr set the timer for 10 minutes and we doodled with Prisma Color Sticks and added words. Art is still too new and raw for me to share, but I’ll let you see the words that emerged from the art…

Art, tea, squiggles of water beyond and below,

like an ink-resist that shimmers, plays,

like words on the page, like steam from my cup.

Swirls of words and images

dancing with Mozart and mornings with Pierr.

What are you not doing that keeps waiting for you?

Who supports you? Who could support you?

What are your characters not doing? Where do they go for support?