For the past few years I have divided my writing year into eight segments, pausing at the start of each season to examine my goals for living and writing. For each holiday, I wrote a meditation, an essay linking common writing predicaments or challenges with the natural world or the chores of my daily life and published it on the Home Page of my website, www.windbreakhouse.com. Readers as well as writers who have come to my retreat house or worked with me online have urged me to compile them into a book that would be a useful guide for all writers who want to create a writing schedule that allows them to approach their work regularly and seriously.
The book is structured with sixteen essays, one for each of the eight seasons through two years. You may choose to take two years to read it, from the beginning of one year through to the end of the second, finding writing suggestions for each of the sixteen seasons represented. Each meditative essay in the book is followed by writing suggestions aimed toward guiding writers to topics that will challenge them and encourage them to achieve their writing goals. Each essay links some aspect of writing with the season that is changing the natural or mundane world in which all writers live.
Nature is easy to find, even if you live in a city. Look up; common birds like sparrows and robins are to be found nearly everywhere in the U.S. and even peregrine falcons are nesting in the densest urban jungles. I've seen trees growing on the balconies of high-rise apartment buildings and found rich earth clinging to the roots of vegetables in farmers' markets in places so crowded I had to wiggle to get through the hordes of shoppers.
You may, of course, choose to dip into each season at your own speed. The writing suggestions provided might furnish you with material for many more than sixteen seasons of writing, so you may return whenever the flame of your inspiration burns low.
This revised edition of the book includes editorial corrections, a new "About This Book" section, and new photographs and illustrations.
