once upon a time, in a faraway land, there lived a mediocre writer and her feline housemate (a housemate, mind you, and free, not a pet owned by the mediocre writer). the mediocre writer was neither good enough to win acclaim as a stellar writer nor bad enough to deserve the title of a starving writer/artiste.
etc.

Sea Ranch (place i went to for retreat) was awesome. was a v. good experience. the land up there was beautiful - very undeveloped, mostly pristine, and the BEACHES!! Freezing-cold water, gray sand, some fog, some sun, sharp rocks, the beaches were rugged and raw. i love beaches like that. the waves hit the shore with a rough fury, repeatedly trying to drag all the sand back into its depths. i saw those waves and finally understood why people thought that there exists a sea deity. all the raw power of the ocean must have made people think that some force is behind it all, endlessly venting its fury on land. yet, having a sea deity controlling the waters must have been comforting; a deity can be appeased, after all, and the thought that the sea is controlled and not a chaotic, untouchable force must be reassuring.