By Nick Hayden
June 13, 2014
As you may have noticed, the site has been a little, shall we say, “dead,” because on the Internet, if you aren’t posting articles and tweets and tumblr thingies faster than the government spends money, you’re not truly alive.
Of course, on the back end, there’s quite a bit happening. The first draft sequel to The Rules Change is nearly complete, and the sequel to The Well’s Orphan is on its way. (Have you read Destinies Entwined yet?)
And, plus, it’s summer! It’s warm! Who wants to be on the Internet all day?
I just recently convinced my sister to read Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury, which is the most wonderfully nostalgic book I’ve ever read. It chronicles the summer of 12-year-old Doug Spaulding–it captures all those moments of being alive and young and full of endless days of sunlight. Days of running for no reason, nights of porches and ice cream. If you haven’t read it, you really should.
Meanwhile, in real life, I spent a week of vacation with my wife and kids, which was wonderful and relaxing, then a week catching up at work, which was hectic. The contrast has reminded me again that we often think the world needs to be constantly changing, constantly new–or maybe that’s just me,since I tend toward workaholism. But the I don’t think we can truly be creative or enjoy life if we don’t have some time to do nothing.
A number of years ago, I saved a Peanuts comic, where Peppermint Patty asks Marcie if she wants to spend all day sitting and doing nothing and regret it for the rest of their lives. They happily do.
So lie on the grass and stare at the clouds. Walk barefoot. Swim. Run for no reason at all, except that you have legs and you have breathe and you have today.
And when you’re good and tired out, perhaps we’ll have a book for you to curl up with as the evening turns dark and the cool wind blows in the window, hinting at rain.
And if for some reason, we’re still laboring away, you can listen to the raindrops against the window and dream.
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