Nevis Cave Chronicles: Dust Bunnies, Epiphanies, and Solitude
Ah, the joys of starting the week with a cup of coffee and a dose of chaos. As I stumbled into the kitchen seeking refuge in my Monday morning pick-me-upper, the jarring music from the neighboring restaurant pierced the tranquility of the early hours. Undeterred, I pressed on, determined to caffeinate my way through the madness. But fate had a different plan in store for me.
Upon returning to my office sanctuary, I was greeted with a sight straight out of a sitcom…
Photo by Nathan Riley on Unsplash
My daughter's mischievous feline accomplice had climbed up on the rafters in the twenty-foot ceiling and turned my workspace into a battleground of dust bunnies, scattering them with abandon across every available surface. Cue the frantic cleanup montage, set to the soundtrack of muttered curses and exasperated sighs.
After what felt like an eternity of dusting and vacuuming, I finally restored order to my workspace, albeit a tad later than anticipated. With a mix of resignation and determination, I returned to my cave, picking up where I had left off the day before. Progress was slow and peppered with distractions that day–a phone call here, a cat-induced calamity there. But I persevered, reminding myself that Rome wasn't built in a day.
The next day, an unpleasant interaction forced me to reflect on the start of my writing journey, twelve years ago, when I was producing multiple books each year. My daughter was away in college and I had just quit teaching in an inner city school to give my writing career a chance. Except for her daily check-ins to assure me that she was alive and well, I told my daughter that if there wasn’t any blood, or if the building wasn’t on fire, I didn’t want to hear about it.
Back then I was a prolific writer because I was free from the distractions of everyday life. I was cocooned in my creative cave for three to four months at a time, where the only drama and conflicts swirling in my mind were the ones I conjured up for my characters. Once a book was completed and published, I took a few weeks to have fun and spent time with my friends and family before it was time to sequester myself again and start the next one.
Since I returned to my Nevisian roots to write this Billionaire Island Brides series, I have been living with family. I love them dearly, but, it has been a case of one step forward, two dust bunnies back for the past two years. In my moment of mental chaos, I was reminded that mental solitude is essential for my writing process and success. Since maintaining a physical presence in reality was unavoidable, I made the hard decision to create a mental barrier from my family, and immerse myself fully in my fantasy world. I would engage in conversation, only when absolutely necessary.
The following days brought a flurry of productivity. I edited four chapters and wrote three. It is one of the best writing weeks I’ve had in a long time.
So here's to embracing self-awareness, epiphanies, and finding pockets of solitude amidst the dust storms of life. After all, every small victory counts in the grand tapestry of life. Cheers to the journey, wherever it may lead.