Rebecca’s Reflections
Beginning at the Beginning
It starts with birds. I wasn’t sure how to begin at first. I sat at the oilcloth-covered table in the cabin, gazing out over the porch, thinking back to Kyoto. I had already decided to set my novel in Kyoto. In order to write about Kyoto, I had to...
Ode to a De-Cluttered Mind
October 2, 2012: Second day of my writer’s retreat. Somedays, even on a writer’s retreat, we cannot write. We have to de-clutter. And for me, returning to this cabin, as noted in my earlier post, carries with it considerable emotional freight. “De-clutter” and...
Writing on the Lam
October 2, 2012 On leave from academic duties, I have traveled to the mountains of Eastern Tennessee to spend a month in the rustic log cabin my father built by hand in the 1970s. Here, in my “writer’s retreat” I have time to myself. I’m supposed to be...
Seeking Inspiration: How the Japanese Mountain Witch Encourages Artistic Creativity
Have you ever wondered how authors find the ideas for their books? Or, how they nurture those ideas to publication? Join this live zoom-based interview to explore the way the Japanese mountain witch, or the yamamba, has encouraged artistic creativity across time...
Cabin Dreams
October 4, 2012: The fourth day of my “writer retreat.” I am staying in the log cabin my father built in the 1970s. My brother and I were in junior high when the building began. He’d bring us up with him on weekends to help him dream it. One...
Chinese Takeout and Rustic Cabins
October 3, 2012: I am now on my third day of my writer’s retreat, or what I’m calling my writer’s retreat. I’ve come alone to the cabin my father built in the mountains of Eastern Tennessee. He had intended the cabin to be a temporary shelter for the permanent house...