I had a teacher once, his name was Donald Murray. His area of expertise was the composing process of writers. He inspired me to go down the same intellectual road. He posited that getting ideas on paper involved writing for surprise. To this end, he recommended setting aside preconceived ideas as to what one might write, and with this in mind, just write. He was a writer, one with a Pulitzer Prize, and so his ideas were based on personal experience.

Some days I write having an idea that has been rattling around in my brain pan. On other days, there might be a workable idea, a fragment, or just a word. I have actually learned to trust the concept of

writing for surprise, for in the act of writing ideas always come to me. And furthermore, I’m able to elaborate on these ideas.

My morning writings are more philosophical than my evening writings. My evening writings are obviously a summation of the day’s activities, which is something that I can’t do in the mornings. In the mornings, all I can do is speculate as to what the day will be like.

As the day progresses, things change. For instance, this morning I fully expected to stop at the Fairground and pick up my check, then drop off some of the milking equipment for Suzi. I’d next meet with a friend and set up his agility course. After, I’d go to the meeting of the Palmer Writer’s group.

Things didn’t go as planned. Friend called and said that he would not be able to meet at his place and do agility. So I had a time gap between the Fairgrounds errands and the Writer’s Group meeting. It was close to being a two-hour gap, so I instead returned home and worked on the Playground of Higher Learning. Pete and I are putting in fencing. This is going to keep the horses from walking off the property, to sights unseen.

I laid out long poles, T-posts, and short posts. This is going to make the job go faster. I hope the good weather continues because I would like to paint the shanty. I have visions of painting it stable colors, which are blue and green.

It was quite late when I got out with my own horses. I rode Tyra, Pete rode Hrimfara. Both did outstanding. Tyra is starting to move out more, but at the same time she’s pretty polite about it. After, I did agility with both horses – yes, they both did wonderfully.

This is impressive given that the September agility course is really difficult – I don’t particularly like it, but I will like it more once the horses catch on to doing it. I also did agility with Raudi who really liked the jump obstacle.

I am most pleased about the fact that the playground is up and running and that I have a shed to store my materials. This has already made the sessions with the horses much faster because I’m not rooting around for things. They are right there.

Well here you have it, a summation of the day. It did not go according to plan, but no matter – it was still an awfully good day.

Next: 249. 9/9/17: Why I Write