Notes on a Writing Life 44
December 14 2022
Dear All,
It’s a season here of hawk migrations and buzzards kettling high up in the sky. The other day I saw a hawk fly up out of our back yard with a small iguana in its claws, and soar easily away. The snow-birds, human ones, are coming back to town – old friends to greet, newcomers, always people to be stunned by the beauty of these days in Key West. It’s all about the light, really. The planes are noisy overhead and the streets full of cars, but the beach is still quiet in the morning, and the water clear after a change of wind.
Jessica's novel is to be published at the end of December.
In the studio where I go to write, my companions are getting their work out. Rebecca Bennett has a show of her paintings opening on January 5 at TSKW and is working steadily. Jessica Argyle is putting the final touches to her new novel, “Sidetrack Key”, set in the Florida Keys after the 1938 hurricane, the one that wrecked the railroad and killed so many veterans. I am teaching the ‘Artist’s Way’ class at the Studios of Key West – we had our first meeting last week – and also finishing up work on a mystery novel, the first one I have ever attempted. It’s fun, and a challenge, especially to someone who has paid little attention to the machinations of plot in the past.
Once again, I value the chance to work alongside other artists, talk about what we’re doing, occasionally have coffee, sometimes read aloud our work, or show a new painting – or simply come here, close our doors and get on with what we have to do. I am in a room that used to be Robert Stone’s, and I write at his desk. Jessica is in Annie Dillard’s former room. The vibes left by these people stay with us. We don’t easily divulge our location, but know that its privacy is part of its appeal, a place where we can come largely unnoticed and ‘go to work.’
Artists need this, and few of us are fortunate enough to have it. In the ‘Artist’s Way’ there’s a lot said about valuing yourself and putting your art first, before the other distractions of life, and the ability to go to a studio is - perhaps especially for women – a valuable thing. I’m writing a weekly summary on Substack.com for people who want to follow the course and see what we, the 12 people meeting in Key West this winter, have discovered. Each time I start the course, I’m struck by both the diversity of people who come, and their willingness and enthusiasm to do the work. This time, we are painters, actors, teachers, novelists, a playwright and a chef, for a start.
I know, it’s what in the US is called “The Holidays” that can last from Thanksgiving to mid-January if you let it! We are following the course each week, through Christmas and New Year’s, so as not to get lost in festivities, obligations, all the distractions that can let a writer or artist wake up in mid-January having forgotten what it was they meant to do. Paint every day? Finish a story, a poem, a novel? Simply show up at the page?
Enjoy it all, anyway –
Affectionately, Ros
PS My novella “Elena, Leo, Rose” is now available on Kindle, and in print at Books and Books, Key West.