Why is this Photo on my Art & Writing Blog?

The photograph behind the Art & Writing title (and with this post) is of Maketu, a tiny coastal settlement in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. When I wrote Swimming to Motiti, my first published short story as a serious adult writer, I drew on deeply-held memories of holidays at Maketu.

Living inside me still is the fragrance of wild fennel, the mystery of old graves tucked into a scrubby hillside, and the sound of breakers beating against the sand. At some deep level, these are the memories that ground me when I'm writing or making art. Swimming to Motiti won first place in a New Zealand national short story competition.

Using this image on Art & Writing is a way of entrenching myself into this challenging new world of online writing. What grounds you in your writing or artmaking?
Copyright Lyn Rasmussen 2010: all rights reserved