Donald Miller.

I'm nestled on my couch next to my husband right now, both of us furiously typing our computers.  (Sometimes, I feel most close to him when we don't talk at all, but are writing on our Macs beside one another.)  My new issue of Writer's Digest arrived today, perfectly sealed and ready to be devoured.  I'm reading an interview with Donald Miller, the author of Blue Like Jazz and several other edgy Christian books.  I can never figure out if I like his writing when I read his books, but most of the time, I just appreciate him.  His voice is fresh and his thoughts off-beat.

Here's an excerpt from the interview:

(Interviewer's Question:  In A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, you talk about good stories-writing, editing and living them.  You say most writers don't live good stories because they're too busy writing, and most people living good stories don't have time to write.  What's you advice for those of us who want to live and write good stories?)

Donald Miller:   I'm amazed at how much my writing is improved when I step away from the computer, even in small amounts.  If I'm stuck, I vacuum the living room or walk the dog.  I'm amazed at what comes out of that.  Like right now, I'm in the airport, heading dow to San Diego to help a friend on his book... but I know that this process will {also} open something up in the book I'm working on.  I don't know what it is yet.

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I LOVE this idea!  I have found it so true in my life.  I remember thinking last time I went to Europe that I wanted to write a lot while I was there.  The truth was, I was too busy taking it all in to sit down and process it.  And honestly, I haven't written a lot about my grand experiences there.  So much of my writing flows out of the mundane.  Very seldom do I experience something great and write directly about it.  Instead, I float down the river of life, keeping my eye out for a small ripple in the water or a spinning leaf to catch me eye-- and I write about it.