Little changes make a big difference

Oh, look...

It’s Wednesday again, and on a chilly morning like this morning, I really do appreciate my coffee in a teacup.

I have danced around different ideas and topics of which I would like to focus on for today’s blog, but unlike most Wednesdays, nothing is really sticking with me all too much.

Perhaps I could tell you about my newfound love of chickpeas? Maybe you’d like to hear about how I spent half a day waiting for a bus that never came? Yes, half a day.

I suppose it would be rude of me to write today’s blog without addressing the fact that we are now in April. After all, March was a good month for me!

I started my blog exactly five weeks ago today, and I am proud to say that there have been five consecutive blogs published since then. #go #me

For something I had trouble starting for several years, it sure does feel surprisingly effortless to write a little about myself and the on-goings in my world, every seven days. It’s helped me in many ways, too. Regular journaling has kept my mind in the zone for writing, and if you’ve been reading my previous blogs, you’ll know that’s what I’m all about right now.

I’m attempting to write a children’s book series. Though production may be moving very slowly, I have high hopes for it in the not-so-distant future. Watch this space.

However, something happened on Monday.

I was out, jogging my morning jog when I came across a butterfly. Thankfully, I just narrowly avoided stepping on it, as if it had waited any longer to flutter away, I may not have noticed the poor critter! It got my mind whirling, and I wondered to myself  “if I had stepped on it, what would I have done?”

I came to the conclusion that I would scoop it up, take it home and rely on everybody’s trusty friend, Google, to generate some results on ‘How to Nurse a Butterfly.’

Then I repeated that out loud.

‘How to Nurse a Butterfly’

It sounded somewhat beautiful and poetic to me.

Curious.

I was thinking to myself about ho thought-provoking title for a story or a film of some kind. So I decided to swap it with an existing title to one of my story plots, which was previously down as being called ‘Love Spelt Backwards.’

Best. Decision. EVER. I cannot tell you the impact it had. Suddenly, an unwritten idea that I had been sitting on for nearly 10 years came to life. It was almost as though this title was the missing link that was going to tie everything together and hold the plot in place. Not only that, but it inspired great imagery and new themes to include.

I sat down the next day, and I wrote for five hours straight.

By the time I was finished, my abandoned cup of tea was bitterly cold, but I couldn’t care less. I had just completed two chapters. Two FULL chapters. Not rough drafts, not extracts that needed to be revised;

Chapters.

So, I think it’s safe to say that this blogging thing, paired with an open mind, is finally curing me of my writer’s block. It's helping me to see potential in all things, and I am capable of being inspired by the smallest of occurrences once more.

Now, I can’t be sure what will happen next. Maybe that’s my inspiration worn dry for a little while. It’s even possible that I could re-read those two chapters and end up hating them with a firery passion. I couldn’t tell you whether or not I will be able to have another writing session like that one, but it sure does make me feel optimistic.

It’s an amazing sensation when you finally have your imagination down in words that make sense to you and to whoever should read them.

It just goes to show, though, that the smallest of changes can have a massive impact on the way we work. It’s taken far too long to accept this notion, despite hearing it several times before, but it’s so very true. In every area of life, as well.

Dishes: done.

I notice that if I get dressed first thing, make the bed and clean the dishes before doing anything else in the morning, the entire day tends to be a productive one. A slightly random and arguably irrelevant observation, you might say, but that’s a change I have had to make in my life; and I’m still working to change it for good. It is far too easy to slouch around, waiting for a magic fairy to do all the chores for me. Yet until that fairy has done her job, I regretfully find myself not doing anything at all...probably because I am that fairy.

Damn.

So here’s to a new month and new beginnings. To opening your mind, and to allowing as well as accepting changes - both big and small.

Happy April, everybody.

Now it's time for some chickpeas.

03.April.2019

Wednesday