For various reasons, these several weeks I am not focusing on my novels. So I have been playing around with ideas which lie more in the ‘creative non-fiction’ category. I’ve always written (and had published) non-fiction pieces and have even strayed into academic non-fiction with various research articles and my book Pathways through writing blocks in the academic environment (https://bit.ly/2HC5xvd).
This time I’ve been doing a lot of meandering around topics such as: walking, nature and writing; the body and writing; and women’s biography. The result is many notes, but nothing entirely nailed down.
‘Walking is not the action by which one arrives at knowledge, it is itself the means of knowing.’ Thus wrote Robert MacFarlane in his book The Old Ways (Penguin Books, 2012, p.27). I feel the same about writing. If I write freely enough, allowing the pen to scrawl (and usually I do need to handwrite for this type of writing) I will discover what I did not know I knew. But sometimes in 
the writing I become stuck and then I will walk. Walking attentively, walking mindfully (open to myself, the nature around me, and myself in the world) will shake free the words and notions which have become snared.
This was written during one of my explorations:
Biography, body, map, walking, writing
My biography is written into my body, a map of past delights, of past misdemeanours, of past wrongs, of forgotten memories. I forgive my body for its inconveniences. I am journeying each day along my life’s path – partly unmapped, the end uncertain. Walking is putting one foot in front of another. Writing is putting one word in front of another. Neither can be done in theory. Both bring understanding in the doing.
Are you interested in creative non-fiction? What would be your writing tips?
Scarborough Mysteries 
Creative Non fiction is appealing. But sometimes I feel i am short on facts. When exploring my own imagination, am I bringing uniqueness to a path that is no longer a trail? I feel like pushing a cart on an expressway full of pitstops and gas stations.
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You write a blog, so you are already writing creative non-fiction. Thanks for stopping by.
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I generally mix subjects like, law, psychology or environment with poems and stories.
I think fiction with non fiction is the best way
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Thanks for stopping by and good luck with your writing.
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I have seen walking mindfully described as moving meditation. My moving meditation is swimming.
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Love to swim too!
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I journaled most of my life and in the end, I took everything I had written and put it together and came out with a book about my life. I am now trying to get it published.
When I journaled, I would sit down at the keyboard and close my eyes and just start typing. Whatever was in my head came out my fingers. It didn’t matter if it was good, or nothing but nonsense. When I was done I had something to start with.
Check out my website: http://www.lettersfrommichele.com. I’m blogging about issues in my life trying to develop a following so when my book comes out people will already know about it.
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Oh, BTW there was a time in my life that walking brought me out a depression I was in.
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Good luck with the book & thanks for stopping by.
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