Dog Days

My family celebrated the end of the school year with a trip to the Russian River. A shallow river is a great way to get your feet wet. We brought along our English Springer Spaniel, Ruby, a water dog, born and bred. Yet Ruby has always hesitated going farther in than her feet could touch bottom.

While my husband and kids paddled down the river in kayaks, I threw the dog a ball on the rocky beach. Into the shallow, gently-sloping river, this way and that, until finally the ball plunked into the water just a little deeper, and without thought Ruby dog-paddled a few strokes out for the ball and back until her feet could touch again. I threw it again to the same effect. And then slightly farther each time, until our spaniel was happily paddling to the middle of the river. By the time the rest of family kayaked back, they found a lean, mean dog paddler, like she'd done it her whole life. It was in her blood and her bones all along.

Meanwhile, for those days I relaxed and gave myself a break from the deep, sometimes scary dive of formal writing and novel revising. My computer laptop sat in its bag untouched. I did write one page longhand out on the back deck toward the end of the trip. Dipping my toes back in.

We returned home, refreshed and relaxed. In the morning, I found myself reaching for a pen before my eyes were open, lured gently back in, a little farther, a little more, just for fun, until I was paddling through my new summer notebook, and six or seven pages later I splashed out for breakfast, shaking off the words and touching my feet to the floor again.

This summer, may you travel to places near or far where you can relax and touch bottom for a while, and then go in a little further just for fun. Writing, life, adventure. It's in your bones. It's in your blood.

Note that in July there will be no meeting or Open Mic.

So take a break, enjoy yourself, and see you in August for our Focus on Fault Zone session with editor Laurel Anne Hill as she turns her attention to the next volume of our anthology series. Her talk promises to be chockful of useful information for your writing.

And I would be remiss if I did not give many kudos to all who came to participate in the incredible Literary Stage at the San Mateo County Fair. Our branch of the CWC once again sponsored a fantastic nine-day event. The Literary Stage is truly a Fair within the Fair. It's like a year's worth of speakers, panels, and readings rolled into one. I encourage everyone to take part next June. I learned a lot!

We will be highlighting some of the award-winning stories, poems, and essays from the Fair in upcoming issues of the San Francisco Peninsula Writer.

  Lisa Meltzer Penn