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Just before reaching the park, I stopped at a cafe\/coffee shop for lunch. I fiddled with my notes as I ate, but forced myself to sit there until I had begun a revised version. By the time I walked out, clouds had covered the sky and the rain had begun. Umbrella up, I headed into the Arboretum and followed\u00a0a trail along\u00a0the west edge that I hadn\u2019t walked before, with\u00a0tall straight pines at the\u00a0start and large holly trees toward the end. My wet walk through the woods ended at yet another bakery\/cafe just outside the park entrance. Over another cup of coffee and a treat, I made good progress in the writing, at least getting some good thoughts into a document on my computer. Sheets of rain came\u00a0down while I worked.<\/p>\n
A little later, bright sun pulled me outside again, this time to walk an almost straight line home. My earlier straight-line walk to the Arboretum had been level; this one definitely was not. My quick estimate of the elevation gain on just one\u00a0of many blocks \u2013 and a short one, at that \u2013 was about 65 feet, though it felt like a 45 degree angle. After I got home, the energy the walk had given me continued, and I worked for another hour or so.<\/p>\n
As the day ended, my writing was far from finished, but this new draft gave me the bones of a version that the editor ultimately accepted with only a few suggestions and small revisions. The piece, titled “Unpaid, in Spite of Their Value,” considered the work of artists and other often unpaid workers. It began with a quote from economist Marilyn Waring: \u201cI sit as artists have sat for centuries, laboring unpaid. Yet I am sure this is work. I am sure it is productive, and I hope it will be of value.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was during one meandering leg of my long walk after a stretch of determined struggle with the essay that Waring’s words occurred to me and helped shape the piece. The day also convinced me that interesting places to walk\u00a0and let my mind wander are valuable to the way I think and that I can sometimes find the discipline to create a satisfying time away at home.<\/p>\n
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