(SitNews) Ketchikan, Alaska - I’ve always told my students that there is no such thing as writer’s block. It’s merely an excuse for being lazy, a self-induced incapacitation. There is no reason for the inability to articulate what’s going on in your head.

Even though the brain might feel a little more like mashed potatoes than grey matter, it’s still on, it’s still capable, there are still words and experiences and colors and thoughts and reactions.

It’s the functioning brain that keeps you up at night when you’re trying to sleep. It’s the day’s detritus floating in your lake of memory.

You haven’t thought about it since the game ended, but with your eyes closed and in the comfort of your bed, you see your teammate looking to pass, and you can feel your feet chop your pace as you sit in the half-squat of a shooting stance. You receive the pass. It’s soft in your hands. Your fingertips sink into the grips and you rise up as the clock counts down. You free your legs from the tiredness to create something pure that will make a 2-point deficit a one point win. It’s just City League, but it’s still a game, and it’s still a win. All you see is net. All you feel is money.

Short.

The ball careens off the rim and 8 seconds later, you lose.

That all comes back to you, just because you’re trying to sleep. To get up and out of bed would be a chore, but to fall asleep is impossible. Energetic thoughts move the brain so much the body can’t sleep.

Sometimes it’s actual money. If you save this amount by this date, then you could afford a new cedar deck. But if you save longer maybe you could go with the synthetic material which lasts longer and doesn’t require the same maintenance. Maybe if you get a good tax return. How much will you get back this year? You switched jobs and for a stretch were unemployed. Sure is great to have a job. What if you were a fishing guide? Would it take all the fun out of fishing because you couldn’t fish? It’s been a while since you caught a steelhead. Last winter was epic, but things over here are different.

The tangent thread goes on and on...and on...and on...and on.

You look at the clock. An hour has passed. You calculate that your seven hours of sleep is now six. You’ll be tired tomorrow. You’ll need more coffee, but you can sleep on the plane to California. This is going to be a great weekend. Weddings are fun. Remember when you sang Ice Ice Baby at Lee’s wedding reception? Or when you slew that wedding singer in a dance-off at Matt’s? Remember that fly that landed on the minister’s nose during your bother’s wedding? Remember how he didn’t move a muscle, just kept reading? Unbelievable.

Any of this would make a great column, but right now, you need sleep. Just turn off brain. Shut down. Down shift.

Remember your first manual transmission adventure in the streets of Washington D.C. in your brother’s Infiniti? NO! Stop it. Sleep.

Finally it happens. You wake up and the next day, during a period of time set aside for typing your thoughts into a publishable something, nothing happens. The world around you is colorful and full of sound, but the brain? Unflavored, non-fat yogurt.
Blank page. Untitled document.

You stare at it. It stares at you.

There’s no such thing as writer’s block. There’s no such thing as writer’s block...

Jeff Lund ©2015

Jeff Lund is a Teacher, Freelance Writer, living in Ketchikan, Alaska
Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @alaskalund
Contact Jeff at Email – aklund21@gmail.com

http://www.jlundoutdoors.com

SitNews ©2015
Stories In The News
Ketchikan, Alaska

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