Filling the Well

Filling the well, feeding the muse, artist date… whatever you want to call it, I spent my vacation doing just that!  (This also happens to be why there was no blog post last week!)

Vacations Are Essential

My favorite kind of vacation is filled with adventure, nature, reading, and lots of rest.  Oh, and good food helps!  Good company is nice, but optional.  My fiancee will be devastated to hear that, but I’m a person who loves to have alone time and has been known to go on solo vacations which I then daydream about for years after!

Vacations allow us to rest both our bodies and our minds.  They also allow us to rejuvenate and fill our mind with new and wonderful ideas, experiences, and images that feed our creative minds for the months to come.

While I believe that a scheduled week, two week, or (gasp!) even longer vacation is quite lovely and often necessary, it’s also important to build in mini-vacations as often as we can.  It may be a day trip someplace new, a long walk to someplace familiar, or just a nice long nap.  I indulge as often as I can… and when it comes to naps, sometimes more often than I’d like and yet not nearly enough (thanks, chronic illness!)

Here are a few images from the well-filling adventures of my recent vacation!

Well-Fillers

Here are some of the well-fillers I indulged in during my vacation:

• fireworks by the lake with a good dose of eavesdropping on the conversations of children around me
• a long nap
• a 2-mile hike and photography bonanza to The Flume in the White Mountains of New Hampshire
• a long nap
• a tramway ride to the top of Cannon Mountain
• a long nap
• a nice drive with frequent stops on the Kangamagus Highway
• a lovely seafood dinner – in fact, two!
• a trip to an art show
• a long nap
• a leisurely drive along the coast of the North Shore of Boston
• a long walk along the beach in Gloucester, MA
• celebrating with family and friends
• Did I mention long naps?
• read two books
• wrote in my journal daily
• a trip to the Museum of Science in Boston to see the Pixar Exhibit
• creating long giant lists of words, ideas, images, and memories
• long conversations with my boyfriend

One of the books I read (and am still reading!) is Zen in the Art of Writing: Essays on Creativity by Ray Bradbury. I love his creative process. This is part of what inspired me to make my giant list… though I’m already a list-maker, so this was just a natural extension of what I already do. If you haven’t read Ray Bradbury’s book yet, it’s great – and not just for writers!

What are some of the ways you fill your well?  I’d love to hear!