On being Quiet

I have realised this week just how important being quiet is to my writing. Obviously it helps with concentration, but it's more than that. I need to be still and quiet to observe what's going on around me, because that's where I find the 'Ahah!' moments that set me scribbling in my notebook.

So here I sit, in my new room, listening to my new neighbourhood. Despite the planes overhead (isn't it lovely living under a flight path?), it is quiet. Quiet enough for me to hear the birds, the breeze in the leaves outside my window, the cars on the road a block away that sound like someone blowing on the surface of water.

This morning there were children playing in the backyard under my window. If I hadn't been half asleep, I would have liked to listen more carefully to their conversation. Children have yet to learn to ignore the world around them as a way of getting things like grocery shopping and paying bills done. I love to listen to what they observe in their environment because I think my particular type of creative pursuit relies so heavily on noticing a sound, sight, smell or taste that other people might be too busy to.

As such, my creative aim for the rest of this year is to learn to better be quiet.