I’ve been paying a lot of attention to landscapes lately. Maybe it’s because of autumn and that heavy wave of introspection it always brings. Maybe it’s because I’ve been in three states this month after not taking a vacation for a reallllllly long time. Two weeks ago we were in Colorado, nestled in the mountains and I was fascinated by the changing light. The days of full sun were bright, offering up clear, clean air that we breathed in hungrily on hikes. The last two days we awoke to gorgeous snow-covered peaks and a steady stream of flakes while the sky alternated between bright blue and snowy gray. The changing weather and the sturdy views were peaceful. We were very calm. (Although, the nightly visits to the hot tub may have had something to do with that!)

I came back to the studio excited to be home and it sounds kind of sappy, but I love being greeted by the adobe and green painted walls.I miss the art hanging on the wall and like being used to seeing old friends day after day, too much time away from them leaves me ungrounded.

Can space really do all that?

We had dinner the other night with our friends Katie and Victor. (Katie’s new novel comes out in April and she’ll be at the studio to talk with us about it.) It was quite the treat because although I often see Katie for “writing dates,” it’s rare that our spouses get to hang with us. We met at Victor’s new restaurant, The Cellar (He’s the chef/owner of Stained Glass restaurant in Evanston too.)

The Cellar is only a few months old and the minute we walked in, it felt like home. Wood beams traverse the high ceiling, couches and tables grace the dining room. There are wine racks as art against one wall facing a bar with beautiful handcrafted wooden mirrors behind it. We sat for a couple hours talking about everything and nothing. A particular topic was the difference between Wrigley Field and Cellular Field, the way each stadium offered a different experience. (My focus was on the bathrooms!) Victor’s restaurant is that kind of place. You come for a beer and a bite to eat but the food is interesting--complicated and simple at the same time--and the atmosphere says, “stay, hang for a while.”

I’d always hoped that it was this same feeling that folks got when they walked into StoryStudio. Not only because we want to be that break from the world; but because we know how important space, setting, atmosphere truly is in stories. Eudora Welty’s essay, “Place in Fiction” is one of the best known and consulted on the issue. Contemporary writers in the news like Cormac McCarthy make place a vital character and our own StoryStudio writers are consistently evoking “place” in their work.

We’ve been rather interested in this topic lately and put together a great one-night class that Molly is teaching in Spring 2010, ”Writing the Land” will focus on the potential of setting in our stories.

I guess the lesson is to pay attention to where you are; it says a lot about who you are.