A seemingly obvious statement due to the whole "nature," "adventure," "bears bigger than horses," "moose on the porch," "last frontier" thing, but humor me.
I say Alaska is for writers (or painters, musicians, and craftsman) because I believe that creative persons need two things to actually create - 1) grand experiences, and 2) time and space to let these experience simmer, brew, toss and turn over themselves, and emerge as a hopefully fragrant stew. It helps if the latter is a period free of distractions, so nothing remains but to catapult from the status of "person with a great idea" (i.e., everyone with a brain) to "one who logs off the internet, steps away from the cell phone, and creates."
Alaska provides both of these opportunities in a cycle as regular and simple as our sun. Summers are for work, play, and ranging far over mountains and rivers. Winters are for huddling close, embracing the darkness and building your own light, free of fear and full of faith that the sun will rise again. Summer is for doing. Winter is for surviving. For a writer, that means writing; for a painter, picking up a brush; for a musician, placing fingers to strings, keys, and stops; for a craftsman.... I'll have to google it, but I'm confident it's an equally stimulating season.
I wonder what I will see this winter, this holiday season. It can be hard to write in southern California, hemmed in on every side by people and cars and sun. The snow waits for me, so deep and crisp that I will have no refuge save my own thoughts. I look toward it eagerly.
More words of wisdom - writers should always carry a notepad, pen, and paper with them, so if the snow pours forth in an avalanche and you are trapped for days, you have something to do. Musicians, grab your composition book. Painters, pack a sketch pad. Craftsman.... I'll have to google it.
