Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Heading Off to Nebraska City!

“A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.” 
~Virginia Woolf
 
I’m thinking about Virginia Woolf at the moment, most particularly A Room of One’s Own, because I am lucky enough to be heading off to a room on my own for the next month, thanks to a residency at the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts in Nebraska City, Nebraska.  I’ll be finalizing one book (fingers crossed!) and perhaps poking around in a new one.  I’ll have time to walk around with my characters in my head and sticky plot problems simmering in my subconscious.  I can spread and pile and sort all my scraps of papers every which way.  I can go to bed whenever I want and wake up whenever I want.  My errands will be few and will seem novel in this new environment.  I can read the stack of books I’ve packed in my car.

There are many things I am grateful for, and tied for the top of my list are my husband for putting up with my absence and the people who start/run/support the valuable spaces artists need.

Also, selfishly, I’m grateful to see that Virginia Woolf also wrote this in A Room of One’s Own:

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” 
 
Or write well, I’d have to add!