This week was intensely busy, and as I sit here at 10:14 pm on Saturday, I am plum out of thoughts. I keep knocking on the door, and no one is answering. Things are getting pretty serious over here.

[queue the 80s saxaphone]

Sounds like a job for the BLOCKBUSTERS.  The writer’s block busters. 😉

The Blockbusters know how serious a daily deadline for writing is. They also know the dangers that lurk after a night of uninspired writing. The consequences can be deadly if allowed to perpetuate. Feelings of uninspire will linger, and blocks in the form of negative thoughts will challenge the writer’s focus of flow.

But the Blockbusters aren’t afraid of no writer’s block.

Their proprietary secret sauce involves a process of complete abandonment of any known identity by the writer.  For a short period, the writer must lose who they think they are and suspend their reality in pursuit of nothing other than pure, unadulterated fun. Become simply energy. Without an agenda, they say. Become neutral. That is the answer.

So let’s call the Blockbusters and see what they can do for me, shall we?

Jenn: Hello, Blockbusters? I need your help. I’m out of thoughts. I can’t write. I don’t have any ideas.

Blockbusters: Here’s what you’re going to do. You’re gonna play a game. Put your Oregon photos in a folder on your phone. Pick a number, and then for that amount of times, close your eyes and randomly select an image from that folder. Write down the very first word you hear in your mind.

Jenn: Does the word need to be about Oregon?

Blockbusters: Yikes. You’re overthinking this. Your vitals must be down. No. There’s no thinking in this game. It doesn’t matter what the word is or whether it relates.

Jenn: OK, got it. Is that the whole game? Just writing down the words?

Blockbusters: For tonight, yes. But then, before bed, set an intention that you’ll be liberated with the energy to make a sentence with those words tomorrow morning. Feel it real in your imagination as you drift off to sleep. Then, tomorrow morning, live that intention real.

Jenn: That scares me a little. What if I can’t make an order with the words?

Blockbusters: That’s your conscious mind with all its limitations trying to scan for possible bad outcomes. We bypass the conscious mind through surrender to play and imagination. Feel the joy you’ll experience when you create a sentence from a random word exercise. Imagine the way that you’ll trust your subconscious and the ether and the sentience of creativity when your request via intention comes to pass tomorrow. You’ll feel unstoppable. You are unstoppable.

Jenn: Wow, I feel it already! I ain’t afraid of no writer’s block.

Blockbusters: Great. Tomorrow morning – this is very important – before you get into your conscious mind and start thinking about your day, what you need to do, and who you are, immediately go to the words and allow the sentence to form through you.

Jenn: Ok! Thanks, Blockbusters! 

Time for the game/exercise. In honor of Day 21, I’ll choose 21 random photos from my Oregon folder and write down the words below. Tomorrow, I’ll make sense of them. See you all in the morning!

1. Green
2. Horse
3. Movement
4. Drive
5. Jerk
6. Stars
7. Sound
8. Water
9. Peace
10. Climb
11. Contentment
12. Blush
13. Gather
14. Itchy
15. Perfect
16. Crisp
17. Sunshine
18. Partake
19. Sake
20. Arrange
21. Car

Ok, friends. The day is now Sunday, and I made myself keep going back to sleep this morning so that I could catch up on some much needed rest. As a result, I awoke late and my beautiful friend Rod had texted me his version of this exercise. I love collaboration so much, so with his permission I’m sharing.

Rodiculous Musings

On a crisp fall morning I awoke to the sound of some jerk learning to drive cattle with his horse.  In search of peace and contentment, I decided to gather my wits and partake in an escape into nature. 

The last of the visible stars were giving way to a warming sunshine as I hopped in the car and headed for the woods.  Green leaves were giving way to the first blush of fall colors as I made the climb to the Hogback overlook. 

I stopped for some water and enjoyed the calming sound around me.  The birds singing their songs, the movement of the meandering creek at my side and the gentle breeze lightly rustling the leaves. 

The lack of flies and mosquitoes this time of the year meant no itchy bug bites today!  As I neared the overlook I found myself starting to arrange my thoughts for the trip back down and the rest of the day. 

I quickly realized this and brought my mind back to the present, the perfect here and now.  Once at the overlook I relished the scenic views and for the sake of bringing my perfect day to completion I pulled a bottle of sake out of my backpack and slowly sipped it until the sun gently set and slumber set in.

I absolutely love this, especially how he likely wasn’t sure which “sake” I meant, so he included both versions of the word. I was indeed meaning the alcoholic beverage, Sake. What a joy to have his contribution to this exercise!

Who I’m gonna call from now on is Rod. 🙂