Hey there…

I have been having a much needed, long weekend after working twelve-hour shifts at my job and I wanted to take a break from my next novel and querying agents to write a little poetry for a change. I posted a brand new one last night on a website called pondrin.com You can read it here: https://www.pondrin.com/poem/7994

It’s the first new poem I’ve written in months and that concerns me. I used to be able to write poetry very easily. Sometimes I could write three or four poems in one sitting. But not anymore. I guess I just haven’t been inspired enough to write about anything. I’ve been working a lot lately and going through some health issues and it’s forced me to reflect on my past and the future. I’m fifty years old now and I look at the things that are going on in the world and it makes me want to cry sometimes.

It’s kind of hard to be inspired about racism on the rise, mass shootings, corruption involving the man who leads our country, people who are more into their electronic devices and internet friends, then they are about what’s right in front of them. There’s only so much you can say about the sun, the moon, the stars, and the trees. And I’ve pretty much exhausted the stuff about all the men I’ve loved and lost. The poem I wrote last night was about one of my exes. How his addiction to drugs ruined our relationship. But I’m getting tired of looking at the past. It’s over and done with, at least the part of it that made me want to jump out a window. I want to be inspired by the life that’s happening right now even if I have to pretend that the world isn’t messed up.

Getting inspired to write is hard sometimes but not impossible. The media can give you a very bleak outlook on life if you let it. I admit that I choose not to watch the news. It’s too damn depressing, however; it’s hard to ignore the news stories on the internet because it’s right there in your face and a simple headline can suck you in. I know I could easily write poems about bad news, but we need more good news in our lives to give us hope for another tomorrow. The media has a way of making life seem better for those who have money and tragic for those who don’t. I came from humble beginnings and let me tell you, there were plenty of great times in those years with my family and real friends. People I can actually hang out with and not have to text every five minutes. You don’t have to be a celebrity to have a great life. Granted, money does help in some cases but it’s not the most important thing in the world.

If you’re having a problem with writer’s block, a change of scenery might just be the thing to get your imagination back into high gear. My parents and I used to take a lot of family vacations during the summer break when I was growing up. I got quite an education from being on the road with them. It was fun, and I’ll never forget it. Trips to New York, Florida, New Orleans, Texas, Ohio, Canada and Atlantic City where my daddy is from. It’s been a long time since I’ve been out of my hometown and I would really like to get away again. That would inspire me. I want to go someplace I’ve never seen, experience a different culture even. There’s a lot of different countries out there that are not at war or under terrorist attacks. Visiting them can give you great ideas for your novels or poems.

My next trip will most likely be to Canada again to see a very special person in my life and I plan to take lots of photos and lots of notes on what I see but after that, I want to go someplace I’ve never been. Like England or Japan. Expensive as hell but not impossible if I plan it right. It’s so easy to get bogged down with the routine of everyday life that sometimes we need to take a breath and stop the madness. We need to remember that life is not always a struggle and sometimes we can actually enjoy it.

Until next time…