I wait until there’s silence. Everyone else sound asleep. The hum of the heater and the quiet cadence of the dog’s snoring summon my muse. Just me. Alone with my thoughts and the blank page. It’s taken me almost 100,000 words to realize that this is when I create effectively. I need these moments of solitude to release the words that have piled up in my head all day. While filling a sippy cup or making a sandwich, a bit of dialog trickles in. Cleaning up a mess allows a future scene to arrive … a goal for me to write toward, an idea I hadn’t thought to include before …

I write because it is my gift. These words are meant to be wrangled.

I’ve tried to avoid it. Let’s be real, it’s far easier to chase status updates and scroll mindlessly through trending bits of data then it is to scratch out three hundred, five hundred or even a thousand words.

But if I don’t write, the scene still plays on. Like a muted film, begging for an audience. Then the laundry piles up and the fridge becomes barren. So I meet the needs of my real life people, while quietly longing for that glorious silence in which I can write once more.

I’m linking up with Lisa Jo Baker and the wonderful community of writers who gather every Friday to write for five minutes. Today’s prompt is ‘write’. Will you join us? Details available here

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