Watch, Listen, and Dream

How are you spending Valentine's Day?

I've been sitting here at my desk, buried beneath a pile of books, work, and slips of green paper. The books are falling into the floor, and all of those slips of paper are littering the desk like green snowflakes. The "snowflakes" are hasty notes that I write to myself throughout the day. Some have book measurements; others have to-do lists that have been partly checked off. The remaining are blank, waiting for an idea.

Aside from the fear of writing tripe, the fear of not writing scares me the most. I've been so caught up in editing for the past couple of months, I feel as if I may never regain my creativity. For months I've wrestled with possible plots and tried to come up with interesting characters. All were sent to the trash bin that resides between the desk and the bookshelf.

I even tried to write a short story this week. My first mistake was to choose Valentine's Day as the setting. When I was in the shower this morning, I realized I had done nothing more than retell the same old plot that has been recycled countless times for those Sunday prime-time movies you watch before going to bed.

Have I written all of the stories that are in me? I don't know the answer to that question. If I use up all of the green paper before a solid story idea comes to me, then I'll pull out the stack of yellow paper. If the yellow paper gets used up for to-do lists, then I'll dig up that small tablet of white paper. When the white paper is gone and I've used up all of the scrap in the house, I'll turn to the roll of toilet paper. When the idea hits me, I want to be ready. In the meantime, I'm going to watch, listen, and dream.

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As always, I love to hear from you. If you’re in the cyber-neighborhood, drop me a line.
 

In the meantime, keep writing, reading, and smiling.
It’s contagious.