Cloud Cover: by Devi Laskar

I just got a week off from my regular life.  A week off from the daily chores, the often mind-numbing routine and the host of “challenges” that life is presenting me with right now. All that to say I went on vacation with some friends and one of my children as we completed a wonderful school field trip in Spain.

As an artist and a poet, I was looking for some stimulation. I’ve been working on my novel, and doing my art—a-day challenge but it’s been a real struggle lately and I’ve been on the verge of quitting everything and taking up television watching as a fulltime occupation.

With this trip, I had the opportunity to visit some extraordinarily beautiful cities and towns and coastal villages in northern Spain and get re-acquainted with the things that I love. I love to see something new. And I remembered that I’m a girl who loves to travel, so this itinerary of visiting new spots every few hours to see an ancient statue or an aging basilica or a stunning set of cliffs or caves or a snow-capped mountain was perfect.

After a weeklong soak in the Spanish sun (contrary to Eliza Doolittle, the rain in Spain did not fall mainly in the plain or anywhere else near me this past week…..) I am relishing the memories and the photographs I took and it is inspiring me to continue.

The feeling I have is the feeling I got when the airplane was starting its initial descent into Spain, and just below the cloud cover was the countryside, and its green hills and the pure azure of the sea to the north, the red-roofed buildings sitting pretty – and the promise of adventure.

As I sit down to write today, I am remembering that promise and I’m hoping to share it and propel myself and my colleagues at the BWW along, to get off the couch  to finish our books and get on with the business of living and “seeing” something new every day.

Devi Laskar is a founding member of the Book Writing World. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Columbia University, an M.A. in South Asian Studies from the University of Illinois, is a rabid Tar Heel basketball fan, is working on a couple of novels and has 43 days to go before she finishes the first year of her art-a-day challenge.