I wanted to write something profound today. I really did. I wanted to fire up WordPress and pen some verbiage that would make everyone just stare at their screens in absolute astonishment and shame that they hadn’t written those very same words. Instead, I found myself just staring at my screen…totally void of anything to say. I realized that sometimes the words simply aren’t there, a glimmer of an idea won’t come, and the muse followed Elvis out of the building on the hunt for the perfect cheeseburger (which is ironic since I’m a vegetarian.)
But in the process of staring at the screen I realized that my fingers were actually typing, words were coming out of my brain, and like 500 monkeys in a room with a typewriter my words, after a time, might start making sense. Of course that could be nothing more than wishful thinking on the part of my sub-conscience mind. But then again…you never know. These words could serve as a butterfly effect on someone else who happens to be doing nothing more than staring at their screen, waiting for something to inspire their fingers to begin typing.
But then again…
Seriously though. What happens in that moment of slack-jaw staring? Are we really waiting for something to move us into action or are we just shutting down for the moment. In those all-too brief moments of allowing my brain to simply let go (what I used to refer to as “Going to Alaska”) I have pulled out with a nugget of truth so perfect for the moment the trip to “elsewhere” was completely worth it. And then there are times when, in the pulling back to reality, that golden truth is lost in the vapor like a dream disappearing from the night before.
It’s easy to get lost in thought. We writers do this all the time. You can see it in our eyes as they glaze over and our faces grow blank. You know you have lost us for a moment. We’re off writing the perfect dialog, coming up with a brilliant story, or realizing our favorite character doesn’t have to die. It’s even easier to get lost in nothing. It is in those moments that our brains get to have a moment of peace. Right before the zombie munches down on our sweetest of meats, we get to drool down our chins and let that darling nothing take us on a ride to absolutely no where.
That moment of staring at my screen is better than sleep. It’s every piece of me at rest. And it’s good for the soul.
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