The Dream

My street in Chiang Mai

Dear readers and friends, 

I have been absent forever so this feels like a long overdue missive to reconnect rather than a normal blog post.

As I write, I’m sitting in a hotel room in Chiang Mai, Thailand, four stories up with a lovely breeze slipping through the anti-pigeon screen and birds chattering outside. There are the dimmest of noises from the city streets. This is a city that bustles but doesn’t rush, if that makes any sense.

I’m finally writing because I’m finally writing! For so long I didn’t feel as though I could post to a blog about creating if I wasn’t and boy, my mind was a blank as a stare from most Thais if you ask about anything in English (I got terribly spoiled in the Philippines where most people speak at least some English). And like the silly American (me) that expects my hosts to suddenly “get it”, I was waiting for something to shake loose in my head.

The truth is I just had to shake myself loose somehow. The past 5 weeks of travel in Asia has definitely re-shaped my world already and this morning it affected my creative side…FINALLY.

I woke up at 6 a.m. – a tad too early for me – so as I lay back down I had this thought, “I should start with a short story” and moments later I was asleep. 

Many of you know that the reason my Twitter avatar is me nestled into a comfy Westin bed is that most of my story ideas have come from dreams.

Well, this morning things fell into place as if I’d never been gone. I dreamt a whole, complete story – beginning to end – complete with important details. I began writing it down about an hour ago. This is just a break in that process.

So, my friends, I’m BAAACK!