The shortest day of the year has come and gone, yet outside my window rain still falls. Whether it’s snow or cold or drizzle, winter has a way of keeping us inside for a season. Why does nature require this fallow time? Why can’t the sun shine and the air blow warm on bare skin throughout the year?

Perhaps it’s because constant sun burns. Constant movement burns us out. Sometimes, we need to stay indoors, curl up beneath a quilt, and spin a cocoon. Inside winter’s cocoon we’re not really wilting, we’re rejuvenating. Within the cocoon the writer builds shimmering wings. Soon, those wings will begin to feel cramped. They’ll long to stretch, to burst forth, to sweep the air and bear us skyward.

If you’re feeling winter’s pinch, go ahead and cocoon. Give yourself permission to read those books you have stacked on your night stand. Take out your journal and write without rhyme or reason–just for the joy of putting words to page. Take a writing break and paint or sing or knit or order those heirloom seeds you plan to plant come spring. Pretty soon you’ll feel your writing wings start to itch. And every writer knows the only way to calm the writing itch is to scratch!

You’ll probably all recognize the photo as one of the cabins at Boyds Mills. Those cabins are like creative cocoons. I can’t think of a much better image to inspire a writer. I hope it inspires you!