One morning while leaving for work, I heard it—that unmistakable call of spring, the American Robin singing for all he was worth on top of my neighbour’s house. That morning made it official: spring had finally come. Today was the first day of spring.
I’m not talking about the almanacial First Day of Spring (I think I just made up a word there.) ‘Round these parts, spring is more of what you hear and smell than what the calendar says. Certain smells in the air (or I guess lack-thereof) and two key species of birds are the harbingers of spring.
Yes, folks. You can smell and hear spring.
I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. First off, it’s the smell you get when you throw open the back door, take a sniff of the air, and smell “it”. That distinct nose-full of non-frost-laden air that brings a tiny hint of earth.
Add to that the insistent calls of the chickadees and the desperate repetition of the robins, and you have it. That, my friends, is the first day of spring.
Here in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, spring comes really late. We are jealous of the west coasters with their cherry blossoms and spring buds while we’re still under a foot of snow. Our April showers are more like snow drifts. But we make the most of it. We’ll be the first ones out and invading the national parks as soon as the mercury retreats above freezing, because anything above -10C is a heat wave.
I’m hoping spring will bring something more than warmer temps and tulip buds. I’m hoping for a slow-down at work. Not only is my anxiety spinning out of control, as mentioned in a previous post, I’m also months and months behind the release of my 4th book.
Book #4 in the Rose Cross Academy series is about 90% written. There’s some cleanup to do here-and-there, and I need to do one last self-edit before sending the manuscript off to my editor for the final hack-and-slash. Cover art is (mostly) done. I just need to do a few tweeks. The only thing holding me up is time. And sleep. Oh, and the need to eat. If I can expunge these needs to work evenings and weekends just to keep my team’s head above the water, then I’ll have time to focus on my writing.
Infact, I think I’m going through writing withdrawl so much so that I’m dreaming about stealing time here and there (and even stealing paper and pen) to write stories in my dreams. Then I wake up in the mornings all excited to actually write these stories out only to realize they make no bloody sense!
Take for instance, the tale of Lanyu. This is my most memorable dream about writing stories. As a coworker recounted me the tale of Lanyu and I dreamt about writing it down, I found myself playing through the story. The premise involved a wooden building where the ruler locked up his family. His family was totally fine with being locked up because the ruler sent them everything they ever wanted-food, riches, pets—through a garbage chute-like thing. (Now stop for a moment and imagine delivering a litter of puppies or three dozen ice cream cones through a garbage chute and you start to see how these dreams just don’t make sense as actual stories.)
Now as the family grew, they naturally had children. The children did not like being cooped up, so the eldest child, our ‘hero’ Lanyu, staged a coup. In that uprising they burned down the house in order to escape . . . so far so good . . . but Lanyu burned in the fire but did not die. Instead, the skin burned off of him right down to bones. But he was all fine with that. As half-skeleton-Lanyu, he stole a Greyhound bus, loaded the kids on, and drove them to safety and freedom.
Now, as I’m going through this ordeal with the hero, deep down I’m thinking this is an awesome story, and I should write it out immediately.
Upon waking, I recall the events of the dream and wonder just what the heck I was smoking.
I think it was this point I realized I’m going through creative withdrawal.
But anyway, back to spring! Like I said, I’m hoping spring brings a slow down so I have a chance to exercise my creative side once again. Creativity is very much like a muscle in that you must constantly use it or it gets thin and flabby, and hurts the first time you try to use it vigorously.
Until then, I hope to enjoy the tiny signs of spring and hope for the best.
Take care!
-Rissa
You must be logged in to post a comment.