Purchase Knob Hike

There are four of us. An accountant who lives with a thriller writer and a lawyer tied to me, the erotica writer. Sounds like an exciting crew, right?

Writers connect, and we have. This season, we shared our new houses with each other. We joke that each couple has a beach house and a mountain house. This is my week to experience the creativity of the mountain house. All four of us love the outdoors.

For our first official hike in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, we climbed Purchase Knob. I’ll be writing a short story from this hike, about a lot of knobs! When the mountain muse arrived, we all worked with her during our walking meditation and allowed the creative juices to flow.

At one point hiking up the mountain, the accountant and I pass a group of nine, let me repeat nine, hot college men.

After they walk by, I laugh. “Hold on. A story is forming in my head.”

I talk aloud about two women, taking on nine men.

“That spot looks good for a go.” It is a flat wall of mountain ready for a back to anchor against it. I see the rocks.

My accountant friend said, “Not that one.” She points to the moss-covered earth.

“I need a tactical jolt.” I bent over and palm the rocks. I picture my character pushed onto them facing one man. I chuckle. “I’ve got a rock in my ass, and I hope you’re as hard as it is.”

The accountant snickers as I move over to the green-mossy wall, dragging my fingers over the natural cushioning. Yes, a more comfortable location.

We catch up with the other two and hear them talking politics or hiking or technology or something. We all stopped.

“Hey you guys, Dr. J. and I were creating a story about those nine men that passed us.

The thriller writer said, “Oh, you mean the eleven men.”

I glanced at him. He quirked an eyebrow up, and it hit me.

In his writing head, he formed a different picture. He wondered how they had gotten rid of the other two whom I never considered existed. We take environmental information and process it through different motivations in our stories.

When we arrived at the primitive cabin, one of our partners said, “I wonder what is stuffed up in that chimney?”

It was a simple grouping of words constructed to make a question and us writers looked at each other and burst out laughing. He worked his “chimney stuffing” with murder, and I worked my “chimney stuffing” with one of those nine men. As we walked around the cabin, I considered a sex scene on the big patch of grass covered in yellow wildflowers, and thriller man investigated the bear trap and pondered how he could work that into his story.

Again, perspective.

Our hike, with all its interaction, became an active prompt. Developing and sharing in this way was a new addition to my writing repertoire. It was a collaboration full of energy and shared with my friends. A creative life feels good.

Check back for Purchase Knob Nine!