Shortly after I wrote my comment on Anna’s post last night (the one about the joys of being unable to think about anything other than one’s work), I went for a walk on the beach. The stars were out, and I was, as usual, thinking about my novel, my new one – really concentrating on it, concentrating so hard that I walked off the edge of a jetty (thinking the beach was on the other side) – it was, but about four feet below me. I stepped into air, like those cartoon characters.
Only I didn’t walk on air the way they do – I fell, heavily. I must have put my foot out, expecting it to stop on the sand a foot or so below – and when it landed on air, lost my balance. As I fell, my head, elbow, and back crashed into the wooden wall of the jetty. This really hurt!
It’s the kind of thing that happens a lot when I’m really into a book…but I don’t think (for me) there is any other way to write novels, useful as it would to be more balanced, literally and metaphorically.
7 comments:
Somewhere out there there's someone who had muttered something about "taking a long walk off a short pier" and they're feeling guilty!
Glad you were well enough to type a blog post.
I'm glad you're okay Libby! That is a perfect illustration of being thoroughly engaged in a creative project, its like the world around you just doesn't exist!
Yikes--ouch! I'm glad you weren't seriously hurt. It's kinda cool, though, to be so distracted or focused on something that you forget your surroundings. Like how I forgot to pay a token before going through a turnstyle after my interview, or when you're reading a book on the subway and don't want to stop so you keep reading as you walk, obstacles be damned...
I'm sitting in a cafe in Portland drinking chai right now, by the way. What a great city!
Ouch!
Do you do things like this frequently? I do! Last year mine was a Charlie-Brown style flip (imagine an invisible Lucy pulling away a football) off the top step of my icy porch. I landed half on the bottom step and half on the ground.
I get it from my mother.
and as painful a moment as it was (and probably still is) I wonder how the incident will weave into the fabric of your wandering wonderings.
alan
Geez Libby! All for the love of the book, though, right?
please be careful about posting this kind of thing. or else the government may insist that writers wear protective head and body gear at all times, especially when relaxing.
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