A little cat waits ...

I saw Little Boy sitting outside this morning, waiting expectantly for something - probably food - and I thought, yes, I know that pose and that expression quite well.

That's how I must look when I'm staring into space, sitting quietly, waiting for words to fall out of the air, or from the ceiling, or rise up off the floor.

Getting started can be tricky. And there is nothing more daunting than the blank page glaring back at you like a white-out, or the computer screen continually going back to screen saver as the minutes tick by.

If you're just wanting to get writing about anything at all, sometimes a good way to start is to think of a sentence. For example, let's take 'a little cat waits'.

What springs to mind when you look at those words? Let the thoughts come as they may, no judging, no editing, no obstruction.

For me, I think of myself as a little girl, probably about four or five, waiting for my mother to come and pick me up from the neighbour's place. As a young thing, I hated being separated from my Mom for even an instant, so staying with the neighbour - as nice as she was - made me anxious and tearful. The lovely woman tasked with minding me - and she is still a dear friend today - said, 'Now just wait a bit longer, your Mom will soon be here.' But I had other plans ...

Now I have my story. I can recall the feelings of worry, my hair in two little pigtails, the inside of the house, my imagination can conjure up the smells, the feelings, what I was hearing, my little palms sweating ... and then of course there is the ending.

What actually happened is I walked out the door, down the street, across the parking lot of the school next door, up the stairs, over the road  to the gas station where the attendant intercepted me. "I'm going home," I said, and indeed that's where I was headed.

Needless to say, the neighbour was not far behind, scared and frantic. It's a story we laugh over today.

So pick a sentence - any sentence - allow your imagination, your memory, and your senses space to 'frolic' - and see what happens.       

---