Monday night. 5:30 p.m. I ride the elevator up to the third floor of the library. Surprisingly, the board room, where Guild meetings are held, is empty and dark. I deflate like an old balloon, turn on the lights and take a seat.
The ideas rolling around inside my head the entire day have disappeared. I'm sitting at the table. Alone. And I've got nothing.
Gradually members trickle in. One. Two. Three. Conversation ensues. Time for me to fulfill my role as facilitator. Take charge. Isn't that part of my job? It is November. NaNoWriMo, NaNo for short, National Novel Writing Month for long. We're all writers, we all know what month it is.
Have you ever had your wisdom teeth pulled?
Have you ever had an abscessed tooth?
Have you ever written about either one?
There is fodder for the pen everywhere. We can take a horrible experience (see above) and make it humorous. Or we can take a humorous experience and make it serious. Depends on the frame of mind.
Tonight my frame was fractured as a broken bone -- the website, this blog, our group and how we can promote ourselves; what author will we get to visit next, where will funding come from; my own work, there's much on my plate, not all to do with writing but I must work that in. I must. Someone pushed a stick into the gerbil's exercise wheel. SCREECH!
"I was pulled out of formation and sent to the dentist's office to have my wisdom teeth pulled." Wow. That's nasty, but good, he survived and could use that experience down the road.
Suddenly I was pulled out of formation. By simple conversation. The result? I relaxed around the table with my fellow writers and achieved a less fragmented mind. Gerbil wheel in motion again, at a much more suitable pace.
Sometimes we need not pick up a pen or attack a keyboard to accomplish a great deal. Thank you to my fellow writers/friends for the renewal and the respite. But now it's time to get back to work. Back to work with a much clearer head.
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