everything I need is right around me

(312)

One of my frustration lately has been that I can't find the necessary time to carry out my own projects. After I got done bemoaning this fact, I realized that I needed some stuff to simmer for a little while so in fact, the delay is likely a necessary delay. I am trying to flesh out a novel, a book project that I started in the summer of 2013. I had grand ideas and even grander notions of having to travel a bit south to find my setting. This last weekend in a "smack my hand on my forehead" moment I realized that my setting is already around me, right there in front of my eyes.

I always knew that one of the sites in my book was going to be Wisconsin and there it is, the beautiful rolling hills of northern rural Wisconsin.

I had this idea that in order to consider the details of the small farmer/dairy industry I needed to be near Madison when in fact, the setting I need must be more rural than that.

It needs to more desolate for the young gopi who finds herself a little plot of land to tend to her two dairy cows. A place desolate enough that there are no distractions from her desire to develop her skills in cheese-making. A place desolate enough that when a Hindu god appears in the form of a city-slicker, there is the actual plausibility of him being in need of help. A place desolate enough that ancient Ojibwa spirits still roam freely.

Everything I need is right here in these hills. And the best thing is that I already know this area really well. It feels like a breakthrough moment for me, the sort of idea light that turns on in a moment of crisis. And so now I am feeling grateful for the opportunity to let things simmer while I tend to other responsibilities in my life.