Focus, Focus, Focus

Focus, focus, focus.

I have discovered another form of writer’s block. Too many ideas. An abundance of projects all beckoning, luring me from “Dahlquin” and “Rainmocker.” Two weeks before the spring equinox, warm sun sparkles across the bay, gleaming through my dirty windows. Sunglasses are required to behold the dazzling white blooms on the plum trees, an avalanche precariously perched on thin branches in optimism and pure defiance of the whims of nature. Anything can happen in March. And indeed rain is predicted for this coming weekend.

So many commitments, I have promised myself to get back into shape and have returned to swim aerobics three times a week…so far so good! A page a day is my new credo, thanks to Cathy and the Tuesday Afternoon Red Pencil Society (emails not included); and I have relished this assignment, moving forward with “Rainmocker” in the least painful way.

And--I have challenged myself to keep a weekly blog, with the discipline and obligation of an employed journalist. Thoughts, ideas and creative juices flow through me with the unguided force of winter rains washing down hillsides, uprooting the flora and fertile soil, rushing to fill the previously dry arroyos, devoid of bloom or blade, then depositing them haphazardly causing more flooding, more erosion. I try to keep my head above this torrent. Grab a branch, jot down the idea before another wave of energy, born of imagination and dreams takes me down another yet vacant gulch, thirsting in this bountiful season.

Focus, I command. Follow through. With so many ideas and plans twinkling and sparkling, stars within my grasp; only if I concentrate. I am a chocoholic in Belgium, on a budget, with a deadline. Focus: write the outline, start a list, “Save as”. Motivation I have. Like a child at an Easter Egg hunt, sturdy basket clutched tightly in my eager hand, I run back and forth, my eyes seeing more than my fingers can manipulate. Faster, faster, before the eggs are gone, before they disappear into another basket. Gone. Focus, consider the contents of the basket and savor the treasure I have.

This weeks blog complete, I will contemplate the unfinished works, the “B” Word, Horse Names and the Next Big Project, with all its details and unknowns, the Mustang Makeover (check it out on-line). A short story idea, “Gold” and all the details and business of publication. Did I mention I have a family?

And yes, what would Eloise do? Remember her, my spunky Irish protagonist? After complaining vigorously of the injustice of having to work on such a beautiful day, she would glumly set herself to task, and ultimately get the job done—then saddle up!

We will be on Spring Break the 14-24 of March. Enjoying our time at the R-Wild Horse Ranch in Platina, California. www.R-Wild Horse Ranch, there are several web sites.