Earlier this month, I listed some of Nashville’s favorite restaurants where you and your sweetheart could celebrate Valentine’s Day. But, if showing up without a Valentine at one of those places would’ve been your idea of a nightmare – I feel your pain. Although, romance can be found in the most unlikely of places, and it starts with nurturing it within ourselves. 

In his collection of essays entitled Old Songs in a New Café, novelist Robert James Waller writes of romance explaining that “if you persist in trying to study her, however, she first disintegrates, then dissolves into nothing at all.” Instead of trying to find that perfect match, his suggestions for “keeping romance around you (or getting her back if she has flown)” served as a key to Nashville’s map to romance. 

Waller starts his list with “Read some poetry every day.” Whether you find a quiet corner in Nashville Public Library to read a little Yeats or Kipling, or perhaps you sign up for a poetry workshop with The Porch, you might be surprised at the inspiration poetry ignites within yourself. 

He also recommends that at some point in your life – building “your own house or at least the most intimate parts of it” will give you “endless pleasure and romance.” If you are stumped at finding your design muse, lean on our Homes of Distinction series to lead the way. And, when it comes to Waller’s idea that collecting things is a way not to “let your muse slip away,”our own Nancy Vienneau echoes this notion in her story about why we collect – Collector’s Corner.

Among some of the other ways to find romance, Waller lists playing a musical instrument. even He suggests an Appalachian dulcimer for the most accessible instrument if you feel you don’t have a musical bone in your body. Try Fanny’s House of Music for a wide range of instruments such as the dulcimer. Delgado Guitars and the Nashville Jazz Workshop are also paths to finding your personal rhythm.

Keeping good journals of your life and travels rounds up Waller’s list. Just make sure to write those journals by hand – as Joe Crace of The Gentleman’s Stationer says, “You are forced to slow down, so the brain processes the information better. When you write by hand, you retain that information.”  As a travel journalist, you can bet I never leave home without my journal. So, in next week’s newsletter, I’ll share some of my favorite destinations that quite possibly will inspire your next journal entry.