Friday, June 13, 2014

52 Author Dates ~ Week 24

Riverside Walk ~ Yarra River
River Walk

Even the upper end of the river, 
believes in the ocean. 
William Stafford

52 Dates For Writers sent me on a river walk this week. To remind me even with the passage of time 'a river can remain unchanged over the years.' 

To remember, while I may deliver my characters to readers for a season, in my imagination their lives should extend beyond the river of life in any given book. (Unless I decide to end it for the poor characters in a story, but it would not be fitting for me to say here, now would it?)

So yesterday, my Beloved and I walked along the Yarra River in Warrandyte. The Yarra River flows for 242 kilometres west through the Yarra Valley winding through plains on its way through Melbourne, eventually emptying into Hobson's Bay. 

Perhaps one day we might follow the river from its source to the sea. This time we took a one kilometre stretch, just down the slope from Warrandyte's well loved pretty main road of cafes and historic buildings.

Yarra River ~ Warrandyte
I've walked this stretch of the river before. Always upstream. Against the flow. 

This time we walked the other way. Through a gate and along the bushland track in step with the age long watercourse in its determined reach for Melbourne's bay. 

We talked about my writing journey and how it's thrown me against downstream bends I hadn't anticipated. Of hidden rapids which almost took me under, and how God has allowed currents to strengthen my resolve on my way to publication.

Long black coffee and flour-less orange cake
To a place where I imagine my readers might find me. An ocean where stories which have bobbed in the stream of my own consciousness might wash up for kindred spirits to share. 

And while I navigate the flood tides and low tides, I will always believe there's more to what I can see just now. More than the years I flesh out on the page for my characters, and much more than what I spy from where I watch the river when my Beloved stops me for a coffee break. 

Oh yes, I believe in the sea. 

Blessings for a wonderful weekend,