This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
This is my dining room. I have a desk in an office I share with my husband, who sometimes works from home, but I like it here better – mostly for the view. I can look out over the pasture across the road and see the sun rise over the Blue Ridge Mountains. If you’ve ever been to this part of Virginia, you know they really are blue, and a different shade every day.
In the mornings, deer cross the pasture on their way to the woods behind our house, nosing along through the grasses, then lifting their heads to listen. Our neighbor has cows her son fattens on her land, always five at a time, and I like to watch her come out and lean on the fence to chat with them. She’s 83 and can’t bring herself to eat meat anymore because she thinks of her five friends.
From my seat I can also see the UPS approaching, an exciting event here in the sticks. But there is rarely enough going on outside the window to pull me away from my writing for too long, and if there is, I get up and take a closer look. The other day the neighbor’s bull, Danny, jumped the fence and came to stand in the yard. He’s russet-colored and massive, and he would be frightening except for the goofy look on his face. He’s a petting zoo reject, and I think he misses daily human attention. I’m not petting him, though.I write in silence, unless you count the whirring of gears in my head. Most mornings I try to get some words down first thing, then head out for a run. If I’m lucky, any problems I’ve encountered will resolve themselves while I’m running, and I’ll write some more when I return. If it’s not flowing one day, it will the next, or eventually. And no matter what, I’ve got a beautiful view.
House Broken by Sonja Yoerg is out now.