A friend was running late to meet me for dinner and told me to write some poetry on a napkin to pass the time. Get this though. I didn’t have a pen. That’s okay—it turned out I really needed some time to sit and stare. The more time I get doing that—seemingly nothing--the more I write. I need time to think about what has happened, time to just let sounds and sights wash over me.
I need time to write about it too, but that rarely happens at the same time every day. Ideally, I would wake up and write in my notebook first thing. What really happens is I write in my notebook when I can. This is at various times of the day, in little snatched-up pieces of time. I write short phrases, rambling thoughts, and I update my to-do lists for my writing.
So I’m of the mind that it’s just important to write, rather than waiting to always have the ideal time to write, or to have a large chunk of time to write. It’s amazing what I can do with just five minutes and my notebook. Bits of five minutes add up. And I tell myself I’m just writing down a snippet. I’m not trying to make a poem, or make anything. I’m just trying to make myself stop and capture a moment when I can. The magic comes later.
