write kindly

erica bauermeister, author of "school of essential ingredients" and "joy for beginners" was speaking at the cannon beach library last weekened. we trooped in and found kindness, authored. really, that impressed me. she gets to know her characters, going as far as to tell her husband, "ok, i'm going to go have coffee with isabelle now" and tries to represent them well, from the inside out. she writes in spurts, often finding rhythmic activities such as swimming or walking helpful for working out her plots. (this was reassuring to me, because, while i believe in the discipline aspect of art, i find it hard to get up at 4:30 to write for two hours every day in the name of craft. kudos if you do this, i'll be out walking). she also spoke of fear and courage. what scares one person may not be hard at all for another; it's not always the "big ticket items" like river rafting or bungee jumping that may signify a personal victory...maybe it's having that tough conversation with someone or getting rid of personal possessions. she made a promise to her characters and that, quite frankly, was as refreshing as the company i kept and the ocean breezes against my skin.