Writing bugs can be found in many places. Some are found at your local library while others hide in your favorite book. For the most part, these little critters tend to hang out where you least expect. Some may reside in airplanes, subways, buses… even long taxi rides. I once discovered a particularly feisty one along a dusty trail in Santee, where no shade could be had and the sun had chosen to treat me like a burrito in a microwave.
Wherever you encounter these elusive little critters, know this: Their bite is much like a shot of Adrenalin. Like all creative muses who float along the ether, writing bugs are drawn to that creative spark that resides within us all. They are attracted to it like metal filings to an electromagnet. We are the magnet and our imagination is the crackling electricity that makes us so appealing..
Their bite is like having a stun gun misfire in our hands. True, the initial jolt is a surprise and often can be mistaken for a break in the fabric of reality. After all, here you are, minding your own business when… ZAP! The plain, ordinary world at large suddenly is rendered irrelevant compared to explosions of light and sensation.
Unlike an actual stun gun mishap, the writer’s bug leaves you with a sudden rush of ideas. Scenes from a great story can come to mind. A conversation can take place that you know has earth-shattering consequences. A new hero may have been pulled into existence before your eyes and there is only one thing to do about it.
Write.
This is when you take these ideas/inspirations to the keyboard and let them all out so they can find life. When you have seen them through to the end, the writing bug will let go.
If you are lucky, it won’t go far.
You won’t miss them for too long. Time is sacrificed while creating something and before you know it, another one will cross your path and the sparks of creation will ignite all over again.
Writers do not create with paint or stone. We create with words. Words are our medium and the blank screen our canvas. From the emptiness around the blinking cursor, we create more than a mere scene or conversation.
We create worlds.
In time, these worlds may even find a place among the shelves in your favorite library or book store. When you next enter the halls of these wondrous dream merchants, think on how all the bound stories and worlds ever made are available to anyone brave enough to turn a page.
So don’t shy away from the writing bug when it comes up and takes a nibble. Enjoy the inspiration few others may share. Pet it softly. Keep it around and give it a name. I call mine Babs. Follow your stories and lose track of time. Discover new worlds and never look back.
“Damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead!” As the saying goes. I’ll see you in the trenches.
Babs says “Hi” by the way.
