Walked six miles again, second day in a row. Something new: tried reading while I walked. Got 73 pages through "Writing Down the Bones" by Natalie Goldberg.

In some ways, it's more about Zen than about writing. But, that was a theme in "The Artist's Way" too: If you want to work on your writing, work on your life.

Particularly liked the essay "The Power of Detail":

"At the same instant we have these magnificent hearts that pump through all sorrow and all winters we are alive on the earth. We are important and our lives are important, magnificent really, and their details are worthy to be recorded. This is how writers must think, this is how we must sit down with pen in hand. We are here; we are human beings; this is how we lived. Let it be known, the earth passed before us. Our details are important. Otherwise, if they are not, we can drop a bomb and it doesn't matter."

and

"Recording the details of our lives is a stance against bombs with their ability to kill, against too much speed and efficiency. A writer must say yes to life, to all of life: the water glasses, the Kemp's half-and-half, the ketchup on the counter. [...] We must become writers who accept things as they are, come to love the details, and step forward with a yes on our lips so there can be no more noes in the world, noes that invalidate life and stop these details from continuing."

There's also a bit about the importance of proper names that I liked.

Tonight G & I have dinner with Sam & Shandra. Need to make cookies. Also hope to learn to use the bread maker today, which has been sitting in the garage for... how many years?