Wanderlust -- getting lost in my forest

I will admit it, since the age of six when I decided to run away from home, I have been bitten by the little bug called Wanderlust.  It seeped into my bones and to this day lives, constantly whispering in my ear, 'see what's over the horizon.'

My husband puts up with my constant dreaming, encouraging it in fact.  He always tries to make me happy, (for that I am truly blessed), but I am sure he gets tired of it. If I had my way we would become vagabonds traveling in a gypsy caravan, but alas, he is a realist, not to mention that we have teens, needless to say they wouldn't enjoy it.

I ran away at the age of six, we had just moved into the deep woods of Kentucky. Even then Wanderlust had me! I set out  on a glorious day taking the gravel road in front of my home. It twisted and turned through the forest as I crossed cattle guards, splashed through creeks until I became utterly lost. Then it wasn't so much fun any more.

The sun clouded over, the wind blew against my face disorienting me all the more.  This trip did not go at all how I had planned. I wandered for for what I thought was hours, then my name echoed in the distance. A familiar voice calling to me.  It was my mom.  She appeared over the rise, head tied up in her usual black scarf, yelling my name.  I raced to her, landing softly in her warm embrace.  She never once scolded me or made fun. She simply took my hand and led me home.

After that day, I took it upon myself to learn my forest, every fallen log plotted and memorized, every tree became a lasting memory until I couldn't get lost if I tried. That is when the forest became my home, and to this day I can recreate it with such clarity that I merely have to close my eyes and I am there.

Writing is the same for me. Wanderlust still calls to me, but now, I merely go inside my mind, traveling to distant lands, experiencing imaginary worlds, getting lost in my own thoughts.  I thank God for my parents allowing me to dream, and get lost in the woods.

 

Sound Track to your life

I go through music phases with my writing. Take for instance my work in progress, a speculative fiction about a hanging tree.  Dark, brooding, with an underlying sense of hope. You might think that I would listen to some sort of classical music, such as Mozart Requiem, Inception. They all worked fine, but then quite by accident, I turned on my shuffle on my Pandora channel, and wouldn't you know the B-52's Rock Lobster came on. Seriously!

Suddenly my writing took on a beat all on its own. Who would have thunk it?!?! 80's music? Well, for me it worked. Now, constantly I'm mixing it up. Coldplay, Avett Brothers, Hans Zimmer, The Choir (who wrote one of the best songs ever called Circle Slide), Gungor, with a dash of Murray Head singing One night in Bangkok.
 
Music triggers so much emotion that I find it a natural addition to my writing process, pushing me along, driving me forward.

What do you listen to, to help your writing?