A Writer’s Mind

So it’s time for me to craft a blog. I find myself at that awkward time of having a million and one thoughts and no thoughts at all. That space where everything is right on the fringes of consciousness…can’t quite reach a thought to grab. As a writer, what do you do? I suppose it’s different for everyone. Me, I’m going to try meditation.

Okay, that didn’t work. As I was calming my mind and getting into my meditation groove, I became too calm and one with all that is; void of all thought. While normally that’s a good thing, not so good for writing.

On to music. But what kind of music. Something to get the energy going. Yes…Nahko &Medicine for the People, “Father Mountain”.  Sweet lyrics, jamming hand percussion section. “Cosmic rays have amplified your place and been revealed to me in the strangest places…” How can she DO that with a hand drum? Amazing talent…wonder if her hands hurt after a while…I should send her some bag balm… Wonder why drums speak to me, so tribal like the heartbeat of the earth…Hands tapping, toes tapping, singing along.

Okay, clearly that didn’t work either. Got totally lost in the music. Still no thoughts.

This post is going to be harder than I thought.

Maybe going for a walk down to the waterfront will help.  A brisk winter walk is sure to do the trick. Take some photographs along the way and get the creative juices going. Oh look, there are the resident bald eagles watching me from the trees. Oooh, the water is beginning to thicken and move more slowly. Ah, Jim has his smelt shacks up and waiting for smelt season to begin. They say it’s supposed to snow soon, I wonder if we’ll have a white Christmas after all. Ugh, still not a whole lot to write about.

Perhaps some tea and new age type music…no lyrics or heavy percussion to entice me to lose my way. Quiet sounds, warm tea, comfy spot on the couch under a blanket. It’s worth a shot…save me Spotify.

In THEORY, tea and spa music is a lovely idea…in reality; it’s like being given a handful of knockout drops.

So here I sit, at the laptop, having just chronicled part of my day. Turns out I had a bit of lots of different things to say, but nothing of substance. Maybe this is just the mind of a writer. Maybe there’s a lesson in this. Sometimes trying to collect your thoughts is like herding cats, while other times it’s like throwing your net into the breeze and returning with nothing but empty net. You see, that’s how writing works, and, that’s okay. The important thing is to just keep writing…write about nothing because even nothing is something…and sometimes, the greatest ideas are found in the very nothingness of thoughts…