Musings

Hello, everyone!  So this entry is going to kick-off my month chock-full of wonderful guest posts from wonderful authors and artists!  It will be full of fiction, non-fiction, random doodles, and heart-felt jargon.  This first post is from the lovely Amy Sandusky on the topic of the inaptly-named writer's block, entitled, "Musings."

Musings

by Amy Sandusky

What, one might ask, is the purpose of a glass door?  Could it be that its owner enjoys the smell and continuous use of Windex?  Does the sun shine particularly bright in that area of the house to merit the ginormous and almost completely unnecessary window that takes more effort to open and remember to lock than anyone has the patience for?  Or, and I daresay this is the true reason, is it that the home owner realizes that the only real source of humility comes from when one meets the invisible door and is forced to a wicked and agonizing stop. It’s something we’ve all done at least once in our lives and there is absolutely no way to spare someone else the pain or embarrassment that is colliding rather forcefully with a sliding glass door.

                Anyone who speaks with me more than five minutes knows my dependency on analogies.  I don’t honestly know if I can go a full conversation without using one.  It helps me bring what could feel like a sizable problem to a realm of understanding.  In other words, big becomes small, and small is good.  Hence my door metaphor…. (that rhymed, oh that makes me happy!)

                I’ve been working on a book this year.  Your Patty has been graciously lending me her eyes and ears to help guide me through the often terrorizing journey of creating a world from scratch.  Our weekly meetings have transformed into the “EPIC” Writers meetings.  I am the Crown Grandmaster of Writermonies, Amy.  Nice to meet you.

                Anywho, I tend to chase rabbits.  Back to the door.  I realized today that I have run into my own invisible glass door and have actually been spending the last few weeks trying to figure out “how did that get there?”  This is probably just writer’s block, but to be honest, I don’t like that term.  You can climb over a block.  You can’t run through a glass door.  You have to figure out how to slide it open, or maybe even avoid it next time.

                I shouldn’t be so hard on the door.  It was just doing its job, sitting there all sparkly clean and see-through.  I was running so fast with my book in my hands, I wasn’t looking ahead and barreled right into it.  If I was looking up, I might have seen the smudges from the last time I hit it….

                Now that I realize what stopped me, I can appreciate it.  Perhaps “writer’s block”, or the new term “writer’s glass door” can be used to help refocus a project that is not bad, but merely moving too fast.  It’s best that I hit something that will allow me to bounce back verses something that will destroy what I’m holding.  I mean, I could have run into a ring of fire that burned up my book, or I could have fallen in a deep pit and found that I could never come out.  That would be a bit terrifying on top of detrimental to my creative standing and hope of ever being a published author.

                In short (and I suppose it’s too late to say that), I’ve come to the conclusion that writing is not about your momentum.  That’s stupid.  It should be about quality.  The best things in life, and in the creation of the next epic story, take time.  I think I will take a moment to wipe off the slobber mark I left on the glass door, gather my fallen pages, and slide the door carefully open.  I’ll close it behind me, of course.  You never know when someone else will need that jarring reminder to stop and appreciate the work that’s been done and, more importantly, evaluate the direction that is being taken.

                Or, someone might just want to laugh their butt off when the next idiot runs headlong into a clearly mark door.  Whatever works.  Some people juggle geese.  ;)

Amy is a very talented writer and one of my best friends!  I convinced her to start her own blog called "This Is Why I Write" where she posts all of her awesome work, ranging from poetry to stories to essays.  I highly recommend her.  She is my inspiration.  She is wondies.