Writer's Waiting Lounge

They say to write. Just write. But what if your fingers don’t know what to type? What if your mind seems empty except for your to-do list? How interesting would that be for anyone to read?

I should make a plan. I am so envious of people who can squirrel away and put fingers to keyboard or scribble notes in a book while sitting on a bus. How wonderful to feel like “this is your time”! 

Courtesy tsg1 Pixabay

I can’t imagine writing a book in short bursts, what if your character has lots to say, what if your computer won’t boot up and now that 15 minutes is dwindling down to 14, 13 , 12 or the circle of doom is still going round and round and now you hear the front door opening, the dog bark, the kids dump their backpacks at the front door or somewhere on the way to the kitchen. What the heck do you do then? Your computer is still not connected but you put a smile on your face and accept their cold cheeks on your frustrated one.

What do you do as you sit and watch each set of headlights come down the street but it is not your child returning safely home, and you toy with a story line but cannot face how this story could end. It is full of screaming and crumpled car doors and maybe a gigantic tree trunk bends your little red Toyota in two.

Why would anyone read this rubbish that spews from my brain like an overfilled sink draining away the bad and the ugly. The things we most fear, does anyone else see the irony of putting it down on paper because you don’t ever want to live those horrible words in real life.

And then you get to the stage that you have to try again, because the words keep bumping around in your head while you're pushing your grocery cart or you're supposed to only count your inhales and exhales in Saturday morning yoga.

What do you know about travelling to foreign places and flight delays, happy and annoyed frequent flyers. Taxi cabs that take the long way when you know plain well that they are taking you for a “ride”.

You ask, and you ask and you ask. You listen and you scribble words and then you sit down and you submit. Somewhere. The magazine that calls you, the opportunity you hear of through your writing group, the post you see on facebook.

And then you wait.

  
 Writers learn to be very patient. (Click to Tweet)