by Vanessa D. Alexander

Created on: August 28, 2008

The writer's mind is territorial. We must own not only what we write, but where ever we write, even if for a season. We lay claim to strange places, like the stalls of bathrooms, closets, park benches and dining room tables. We pour out treasure on bathroom tissue, paper bags and the backs of envelopes.

A writer's mind is a place of both joy and despair. A writer is both obscure and social, in a misfit kind of way. In the writer's mind, a pebble on the ground becomes part of a plot. Rain pellets a roof, becomes a scene, the tension mysteries are made of.

We live in a world full of strange words like, Antagonist and Protagonist, words we would never speak with the general public. Our thoughts remain many centuries, impossible to classify.

We travel to places our feet have never touched. We discover things we've never really seen and meet people we have never really met. We don't tell stories. They tell us, and compel us.

A writer's mind contemplates a fork in the road, east and west, the north and south of what we are destined to do is par for the course. We hope to gain wisdom with every failure. We cry in secret but never waste tears. We learn to use them, to cause joy, inspire strength, accept defeat or embrace success.

Writers never really figure out who we are, not completely. But we can easily define who we are not. We don't mind loneliness. It is only a tool. We never shun emotions. We learn to harness them, weave them into words that make sense and defeat the fear we encounter behind them.

The writer's mind is something impossible to unravel. Inside are the chapters of books, stories that will disappear under letters of polite rejection, sonnets and poetry, lyrics and plays. There are millions of words stored away. Some will thunder one day and celebrate the sound of applause on a best seller list. Others will wither and even a spring rain could not revive them. Some will simply do a work and then go quietly to the next job.

The writer's mind is a glorious place to be shared, a widespread event, under rated and over publicized. The writer's mind, tread softly, please. We're trying our best not to become too important or, hopelessly paralyzed.

A writer's mind has one relentless need, to make words move, to write something that causes at least one ripple in a lifetime, at least one. And if their should be more than one, let us lavish in it for a small moment, move on and consider ourselves blessed. In the final analysis, what the writer's mind thrives on, is writing.

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