Bali Anyone?

afternoon office

In a desperate attempt to rediscover my muse, I took off to Bali for a week with two friends. We all had writing missions and had committed to be disciplined to produce a thousand words a day. Our villa was surrounded by high walls so the only distractions were the noise of an occasional motorbike or voices of people passing.on the gang. Each morning after a swim or yoga and breakfast we set ourselves a start time and chose ourselves a spot to set up. We agreed there would be no conversation until the next break time, which usually coincided with mealtimes.

inspiration

So, into the confronting silence, the blank screen and a mind busy with everything except the task in hand. A blank notebook, a pile of dog eared recipes with food stains and scribbles, a few reference books and a new lap top to do battle with. I shuffled paper for a while then began writing a list of contents - a blueprint of everything I planned to include. It felt a bit silly, like writing a book backwards, but from then on it was like painting with numbers.

There is something rather beautiful about silence that helps me to settle and focus, bring clarity to the task at hand. Now I'm home, silence and lack of distractions are rare. The luxury of time and space in a comfortable, supportive environment are a distant memory.Writing might be three hours with my lovely writing friends or a greeting on a birthday card. I have written a workshop, a proposal, and many shopping lists and am attempting to post a blog each week.. I have discovered to keep my writing alive, it is important to write everyday, no matter what form it takes.

The book remains as I left it, a massive 10,000 words in eight days.
Anyone want to come to Bali?