I’m in the Bay Area this weekend attending the “Opening the Creative Channel” retreat hosted by Andrea Scher of the Superhero Life Blog and writing teacher, Laurie Wagner.  I was trying to remember how I first heard about Andrea Scher, and then it dawned on me. Her name was mentioned in Brene Brown’s book Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent and Lead–the book that inspired me to take the risk to start this blog.  You can read about the retreat here.  I’ll be writing, doing art, taking photographs, and sharing stories with other attendees.

I am away from husband and children this weekend.  Alone with myself for the time I am not attending the retreat.  I have the freedom to be myself here, not wife, not mother, just me–that other person I sometimes forget I am because of all the other demands and responsibilities I have at home.

To be natural is to be at home with your own nature. If you are outside yourself, always reaching beyond yourself, you avoid the call of your own mystery. When you acknowledge the integrity of your solitude and settle into its mystery, your relationships with others take on a new warmth, adventure, and wonder.
–from Anam Cara by John O’Donohue

Today is Day 10 of the Write 31 Days series.  You can find my other posts in the series here.