A WINTER'S TALE--WRITE ONE

A WINTER'S TALE

I can't say I love winter. But who doesn't love the first snow, so pristine, making everything pure? As a girl growing up on a farm in Pennsylvania,  for me, that white blanket extended unbroken for miles in every direction, coating the fields, the buildings, the trees. I loved sledding with my older brother,  hurling down the big hill behind the barn at breakneck speed. I loved building snowmen and igloos and I enjoyed snowball battles. Best of all was when my father hooked the huge workhorses to an old-fashioned sleigh and took us spinning across the fields.

But these days, in suburban New Jersey, the magic remains only for a few hours before exhaust fumes, pollution, salt and dirt and shovels turn snow into disgusting slush and black mounds that remain long after the rest of the snow melts.

Still there are advantages for a writer. The cold weather keeps me inside, settled at my desk, a cup of coffee before me--WRITING!

I've been inspired on these cold days. I've been working on a new series, and I've written twelve chapters in record time. So there has been an upside to the weather that keeps me indoors. I'm enthused, living in a world of summer with a new cast of characters.

Okay, I cheated a little--a sojourn to California, a Caribbean cruise--but still--it's cold, it's winter-- and I'm writing today. (I plan to fly t Florida on Tuesday.) But once the story starts unfolding--it's a process!