Momentum & The Woodpile
This is my third winter in the cabin. And I've gotten better at them each year, learning the necessary little tricks to staying warm off the grid.
But one of the biggest "tricks" is simply having enough wood for the stove. And on that, I messed up.
For the first time since moving here, I may need to buy firewood. So far I've chopped my own, mostly by clearing out trees that have been dead for many years already. Plenty have toppled; some are standing dead. There's no shortage of dry wood on my land.
So what the hell happened?
You could probably just call it laziness--and that's certainly true. Still, I thought it was close, thought I might have had enough cut. But that brutal cold snap we had--for a week temps ranged from -6 to 26-- made quite a dent in the woodpile.
So now I may buy wood, which seems like a waste. What kind of homesteader in the woods buys firewood?
I just never got started on the woodpile. Not really. Sure, I cut and split a lot of wood but it was in fits and starts and I never really picked up steam.
Inertia may be the most powerful force in the world. Not just physical, but also emotional and artistic and educational inertia. Woodpile inertia.
There's a lot of inertia in writing. Getting started can feel impossible, but once you get going it gets easier. You're in first gear when you write those opening lines. But once you get moving, the story writes itself.
I've heard of writers who stop in mid-sentence, so that it is easier to pick up again.
A body in motion stays in motion. A body at rest ...
