Compost = Experience

“Compost is organic matter that has been decomposed and recycled as a fertilizer and soil amendment.”

As an older writer, I relate. God knows I have enough shreds and shards of memories to fill a dumpster. I suggest that it is the management and use of this slurry that informs and gives sustenance to writings. Sometimes, it can be used in raw form but mostly it must ‘decompose’ and reach optimum flavor much as the chili is better after a night in the fridge.

Those swirling remnants of past experience can sometimes be annoying when they deny me sleep but they are still nutrients (amendments) for creative ventures.

Gnu Writer Speaks:…in the beginning

I promised to take you with me through my voyage of discovery from first keystroke to inevitable fame and fortune. Perhaps instructional, perhaps cautionary.  Either way, perhaps a help.

How it began:  I was a businessman.  Writing was a utilitarian practice although I did take one evening writing course at Beverly Hills High (that’s right, 90210).  I wrote a few exercises and got the glimmer of a conceit for what eventually became ‘The Route’ but those notes ended up in a manila folder for, oh, maybe nine years.

What really got things going was my beloved Barbara who saw writing talent I could not, or would not, see.  When I gave up a frustrating, totally inappropriate part time job, she put the arm on me to sit down and see what would happen.  The final trigger was for me to recognize my fantasy setting for writing from a Sausalito aerie with view of San Francisco Bay was more realistically already right in front of my nose, or, more accurately, in front of my monitor.  My trusty HP and I sat at a window with a pleasing view of our yard, bosky and refulgent, and that wonderful source of glorious ongoing entertainment, our bird bath.

Once I decided that this would be my Sausalito (in St. Petersburg, FL), the work flowed.  How?  Why?  Beats me.  Guess it was in there waiting to escape.