Sarah's writing journal

A lovely start to the morning today - and a bit of synchronicity. I'm a great fan of the bookcrossing site where people all over the world are encouraged to swop books - www.bookcrossing.com - and it's been such an ambition to find one of these 'released' books, that I put it as one of my goals on 43things. Anyway, walking my dog in our local park, I noticed a book left lying on a bench and picked it up. There was a letter inside from a woman called Sue who was determined to prove her friend wrong when this friend said that all everyone cared about these days was getting more and more material things. Sue's new years resolution was to be more generous, and leaving the book was part of this! It made me laugh and when the park-keeper came up to chat, I told him about it. He was so pleased that it had happened in 'his' park that I gave the book to him. He texted Sue to say how nice she'd been, and although I only held the book in my hands for just a few minutes, I'm still smiling. It would be fantastic if the park could become an unofficial booksharing site, if people trying books they wouldn't normally pick up.

Another goal that keeps coming up on 43things is having a ride in a hot air balloon, and it makes me feel smug because I've done this! In Shropshire last year, we went out about 6 o'clock in the morning, when the land was just waking up. It was like floating, moving at a completely different pace. I've put some of the photographs up here.

And my writing prompt for today comes from one of the best books on writing I've found - If you Want to Write, by Brenda Ueland, and it's the heading from one of her chapters. 'Art is Infection'.