Ok, time to flex my writing muscles, I said to myself. 

I had taken out my backpack, put on my headphones (on the Classical station from Pandora, the only music I can listen to without getting distracted), cracked my knuckles like they do in the movies, and went to work. 

…Or at least I tried to. But nothing was happening.

I was sitting in a park — in the REAL OUTDOORS — after having made the drive from my house in Clovis. The place was called Ned Houk and I was going to try, for the first time, to write in the great outdoors. About 99% of the time I’ve spent writing has been indoors — whether it be in the comfort of my own home, on an airplane (I count that as being indoors, because if you are outdoors at 30,000 feet you’re either scaling Everest or dying), or in a hotel room. Never before had I braved the elements and tried to write outside.

Now was the time!

But for the first few minutes, all I did was stare.

My brain refused to work. And, incredibly enough, I was totally fine with that. I realized that, for the past few weeks, I had been a giant ball of stress, and this was the first time that I’d ever taken my mind of anything but the crazy circumstances going on in my life. I won’t get into the details now but suffice it to say that big changes lie ahead. For the first time in as long as I could remember, my brain was blank.

And it felt so good.

I don’t journal anymore (I used to when I was in my late teens and early twenties. Don’t try and find my livejournal, frozebaby, if you don’t want to fill your days with some serious  teen angst), but suddenly I just felt the urge to write. I had come with the intention of working on one of two stories I had brewing (one is the sequel to Gift of the Shaper, and the other is hard to describe, but I pitch it as “Avatar the Last Airbender meets the Jungle Book”), but my brain had other ideas.

As the violin and piano played in my ears, I was sure that I could see the stress being massaged out of me. I’m not sure how this stuff works, but I’m positive it was healthy. I think I’ve found my new favorite thing.

Special shout out to NM_outside on Instagram who gave me the idea for this. If you don’t already follow them, you should. It reminds you that there are actually some pretty places in New Mexico — even in Clovis, believe it or not.

And if you don’t already follow me on Instagram, you’re missing out! Stop by for this week’s DuckFacts. You know you want to. And, for the record, writing outdoors was incredible. I think I’ll do it again.

-D.L.