Author of LGBTQ YA Fiction. Flâneur. Playwright. Poet. Pilgrim. Supporter of Fellow Creatives.
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Just pictures. We are on the Camino de Santiago, loving every minute! Began in Astorga this time. Mini Camino. (These next few days will be my September update…because we’re out here living!)
Astorga, before the walk!
Walking Day 1 – Astorga to Foncebadon
Day 2 – Foncebadon to Ponferrada
How did we get here? The month of August is quickly being eaten up and September is just around the corner. This time last year we were eagerly anticipating a September in India and Nepal. As it turns out, it was far more beautiful than I could have ever imagined.
I feel as though I am still processing India and Nepal. I have written about some of my experiences there, but I have only just scraped the surface. It was a profound experience I’ll remember forever.
India is now behind us by almost a year. I can’t even fathom that truth! It seems like yesterday.
With September 2019 comes…another adventure! I once said there were too many places to visit to go to one place more than once. HA! That was before I met the Camino de Santiago. Yes, dear reader, I’m talking about the Camino yet again. I will probably continue to talk about it UNTIL EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU HAVE HEARD AND HEEDED THE CALL OF THE CAMINO!
We are 20 days away from setting out on my 2nd and my SO’s 1st Camino de Santiago pilgrimage. Michael is looking forward to it as much as I am, though he may possibly have more trepidation than I have. I remember the days leading up to my first Camino…all I could think of was the impossibility of the whole thing. I was as nervous as I was excited. NOW I know different. I already know I GOT THIS. But that’s probably something one has to come to on their own. It all seems very overwhelming when you begin to think about taking that first step. Can I do this? Is it too much?
You can. It’s not. It’s beautiful and you should.
I’m ready for the Camino de Santiago. I hope these 20 days fly by. We are ready to discover the path together. Come September 10th, we’ll fly into Madrid. By the 12th, we’ll be in Astorga…where we will begin our shortened Camino journey. On the 13th, my 53rd birthday…we’ll be on our way! The walk to Santiago de Compostela will begin!
While I have your attention and I’m talking about the Camino…just a heads up— WRITING NEWS IS FORTHCOMING! MY LIPS ARE SEALED FOR THE TIME BEING, BUT I HAVE VERY EXCITING CAMINO RELATED WRITING NEWS COMING!!!
Come on, September! BRING IT! We’re Camino ready! Buen Camino!
I usually write about my Muskoka Novel Marathon (MNM) experience shortly after it’s over. But I wasn’t sure how to deal with this one. I’ve been home from it a week today. I felt like I got nothing done this year. But I also managed to write almost 40,000 words in 72 hours. Perception and reality vastly conflict with one another. It’s the same ole same ole.
Why is it this way? Because of the automaton feature that writers will often tap into. They can begin a project by being a writer writing and end up just being writing. Writer disappears at these marathons. Writer becomes writing. The act itself…with no one at the wheel.
This is why I always underestimate my creative output and my productivity. I disappear.
I was driving yesterday and a thought about my Muskoka Novel Marathon novel came to me in a flash of brilliance. It was more like a eureka moment. ‘I really should have my one character meet with a therapist.’
I mean, something big and terrible happened to them. Most likely, a therapist would be foisted upon them practically against their will in real life after experiencing what they experienced. I should write a scene where they visit a therapist.
Then, when I finally sat down in front of my manuscript to continue my read-through, a funny thing happened. I came upon a fairly long scene (several pages in length) where my character visits a therapist. Who knows, there may even be more therapist meetings in the manuscript. I’m still reading through. This is one of the reasons I try not to edit while doing that first read-through after arriving home from the marathon. I often have no recollection of what my manuscript contains. And I never know what I’m gonna find. Literally, I have no idea. The therapist scene is a case in point. Blindsided.
I also know that I’m a monumental distraction to other writers at the marathon. I do my best focusing when I’m not focusing at all. I have too much energy to do things in another way. I write my ass off while drinking coffee and eating garbage candy and shooting myself madly off in every direction. Somehow, I walk away from the marathon with most of a novel…and somehow I get that novel completed in the few weeks immediately following the marathon. It’s how I function as a writer.
Another year in the can, another diabetic coma narrowly avoided. My novel is coming along. I may even like what I came away with. I’ll like it more once this read-through is complete and I know exactly what it is I wrote.
KEVIN CRAIG 