My Untidy Mind

It’s been said that creative minds are rarely tidy, and mine’s definitely a mess (just like my table at work). While creative people have untidy minds, I also think that they “feel” the world a little differently than others. The difference between highs and lows are more extreme.

Sometimes I can almost cry at the pure beauty of little things, such as looking into a shallow pond, stroking the bark of a very old tree, or gazing at the world through a silk veil. I can pretty easily work myself into an emotional state, where my senses are finely tuned into the world, even its smallest and inconsequential things.

It’s an incredible experience to expose oneself so to the external world but it can also be damaging and take you down with a vengeance. If the universe searches for equilibrium, then you need a low for every high. A good writer can use both highs and lows to ignite the creative spark and build a story that readers can relate to. If writers are the mold that create fiction, then the imprint of the world has to be a bit deeper on them than on regular people.

Yesterday I took my bicycle for a long ride and something unexpected occurred. I’m usually very careful on my bike but on the top of one hill, I sort of freaked out. I had ACDC’s Highway To Hell on my mp3 player and as I started rolling down the hill, I held on to the steering wheel with all my might and raised my legs into a V shape. Needless to say, this upset the balance of the bike and sent me into a very fast and wobbly ride down the hill. With I’m going highway to hell blasting in my ears, I laughed like an insane person until I was beginning to slow down a bit (a couple of old people nearly broke their necks turning their heads when I passed them).

With adrenalin rushing through my body, the first thing that came to my mind when I was down was that now I knew how I would describe the sensation people go through when they

• try to regain control of a car on a slippery road
• lose their footing while skiing and slide down a mountain
• get left by their spouse

Basically any scenario that involves an escalating situation that requires you to accept that you have limited control, hold on and just try to live through it.

I’m not saying that I will make a habit of jumping onto the adrenalin junkie train. What I’m saying is that I don’t have to. I can have a strong emotional reaction to the smallest things, but when life does hit me with the really good/nasty stuff (like that totally reckless bike behavior) it will ripple through me like a bolt of lightning. And if I don’t channel that emotional rush into writing stories, I will burst!

Now that I've gotten that off my shoulders I think I'm getting ready for writing again. Perhaps I will even start tonight...