Eerie!
That’s what a sky filled with smoke from nearby forest fires is like. Eerie! The sun, when visible, is red. The air hard to breathe . . . ash falls from the sky, coating everything with a fine sludge . . . the sky seems to be falling, closing in on you from above . . . there is an ominous feeling of the supernatural at work that is hard to ignore. People move slowly, unable to cast off the unseen chains of concern.
Observations from last week in Olympia, Washington.
For whatever reason, most likely some imprinted animal memory, I am taken back to my twelfth year, in Tacoma, Washington, ten at night, a cold night, and the Jackson home burning to the ground, a chimney fire consuming the house of five, all residents safe, the flames towering, the neighborhood aglow, and that ever-present stench of charred memories which seemed to hover above our block for months afterwards, reminding us all of dust to dust and the fragile nature of life.
Two weeks later my older sister gave birth to her third child, a girl, healthy, hopeful, radiant with happiness not yet stained by the struggles of life.
That same year a young girl by the name of Ann Marie Burr went missing, disappeared from her bedroom, eight she was, or perhaps nine, I don’t remember, round face, beautiful smile, here one moment, gone the next, a family shattered, never really to recover, her body never found.
Dust to dust!
Our paper boy that year, one Ted Bundy, who would go on to fame as a serial killer of young women.
Dust to dust!
The mind of a writer is a fertile ground. Was my childhood all that remarkable? I don’t believe so. I think most people, if they really concentrate on the past, will find inspiration awaiting them. All they need to do is become receptive.
Writer’s block? You’ve got to be kidding me!
A line from a song keeps playing in my mind today:
“Death is there to keep us honest,
And constantly remind us we are free.”
Maybe you’ll find some inspiration from that line. Maybe not!
Someone I follow, another blogger, is contemplating giving it up and quitting writing. Discouraged she is. Can’t find a reason to continue, she says. I find that sad. What we do is important despite the lack of sales in this highly-competitive world. Writers make a difference!
Have a great week of writing unless, of course, you’ve made other plans.
Bill
“Helping writers to spread their wings and fly.”
Billybuc
Artistry With Words 