When I was writing The Wanderer, in several scenes I showed Lucinda making offerings to the gods in the morning. At one point she feels the breath of Leoma on her face.
Leoma is the Old English word for ray of light, and I figured it was an apt name for the god of the morning. But I remember looking at that line, perplexed: shouldn’t she be reacting to the light in some way? Maybe I should edit it.
Then one morning I was outside very early, just before dawn – I was living in Palm Springs at the time and in summer I could only get my walk in without melting if I started it at 5 a.m. – and I felt it.
Have you ever felt the breath of Leoma? Just after dawn, when everything is quiet? I did that morning, and I remembered other mornings when I’d felt it, and I recognized how that line got in.
Sometimes our experiences get squirreled away in our minds and come out in unexpected ways.