I enjoyed a good writing session from a very young age. I lug around my notebook and pencil, Ticonderoga #2, of course, to write down thoughts and objects of fascination on my journeys. Sometimes, those expeditions went as expected, and other times, they had completely different takeaways than expected. On the road of life, you never know where it will take you and what lies just around the next corner. Bring a notebook and pencil to capture the magic of being in the moment.
As I got older, I also started carrying a camera. As we all know, a picture can be worth a thousand words and, therefore, offer a better illusion than simply words on paper alone.
With writing comes the long dry spells of life, where time, space, and imagination do not all come into alignment to create the captivating vignette of life. Finding the ideal writing environment can be as elusive as a solid night’s sleep. Yes, they both can occur, but trying to create the scenario that leads to the nirvana moment of either can be like chasing unicorns in the dark with a blindfold.
I understand why great writers are a little different from us. They perhaps become a little mentally twisted in the hunt. It’s like being a fisherman; you had one good day where you caught the biggest trout in the stream, and it put up a helluva fight, but in the end, you did it. The remaining days will never possibly measure up to that magic of catching “the one”. There may be many great stories of the one that got away, but when will that next personal best catch be achieved again?
Writing under the influence. Often, the best stories come when in an altered state of mind, sometimes in a magical dreamscape, so keep that notebook and pencil near the bedside to capture those gems. Other influences come from thousands of possibilities, some of them good and many of them bad.
Writing alongside friends, Jim, Jack, and the Green Fairy, opening up a bottle with these friends can bring down the worries of the day, and open the avenues to creative hallucinations. Sometimes this can be a vivid amazing story, or real dark pathways to the bowels of hell. How deep can the rabbit hole go?
Altered mental health can bring many a tale.