This particular newsletter could go in many different directions and it just might, so just be patient and read on.

Inspiration. It can come in so many shapes and forms if we only let it. Our minds need to be open to it, open to suggestion. For example, there was a car pile up on Highway 55 just recently. Because I live close to the highway itself, I wanted to know where exactly. My husband drives that road on a daily basis. Turns out, it's the bridge all the way down before New Orleans. Has nothing to do with me, with my husband. A terrible, terrifying wreck not all escaped. Heartbreaking.

However, the mind has a mind of its own and this is my weird thought process after digesting the information and hoping that people are okay. It was a dense fog created by smoke and fire. New Orleans is a mecca for vampires and witches fiction. What if the fog wasn't formed by nature but by something completely different? Who had a hand in it? What else was going on? It's a swamp down there. Did anyone get eaten by weird creatures?

These thoughts will plague me until I write something with them in mind. These are weird thoughts, in my opinion. The 'what if' can have a huge impact on your writing if you let go and simply go with the flow. However, not all thought process leads to writing. Some of it takes a back seat and sits there until it's needed. Yet the need to write is always there. At times it's dormant, laying in wait. Writer's block, if you want, where the door to writing seems to be locked to you and you can't pry it open with you fingers. Or is that just our imagination? The need to explain our lack of inspiration? What if you wrote about the actual writer's block? Give it shape, a face. Fight it with words. Isn't that inspiration?

Many things affect our writing or lack there of. Sometimes it's simply impossible to find the time. Other things take precedence. That doesn't mean that the inspiration isn't there.

There's one more thing that can cramp a writer's style and imagination. Other people's opinion. I find it surprising that the opinion of one person can have such a large impact on the other, but it's there. To me, any negative comments on my writing are simply a dare. To keep going. To do better. Besides, I write for the need of it, not to impress anyone.

All my life I've been told that writing is cute, but nothing more. That my words are a waste of time. That I should focus on the things that matter. Family, job, bills. Not even a career, just work and do what must be done. I grew up like that as did my husband. Work hard to make something, to build a life, to build a family. I'm certain I'm not alone in this. None of the people surrounding us have ever seen something positive unless it makes money. It is hard to break that barrier and do what you want to do. Even if you don't make a dime. Do it for yourself.

I've said it often, that my writing is for me. I do it because I feel the need to. It doesn't matter if I never finish what I started or if it doesn't get published. My mind doesn't rest and writing creates a quiet place I crave. After many years of being told I cannot do something because I may not be good at, just to have it suggested to me many years later, I have learned that people's opinion doesn't matter. I do not ask for approval, nor do I seek attention for the things I want to do. The whole world doesn't need to know what I'm up to. It is only for me.

So I urge you to do things for yourself. Don't look for approval, for a pat on the back. Not for guidance, not for justification. Not to raise awareness of being oppressed in or with the things you think should be so. Just do it for you. Don't let other people tell you what is and what isn't for you. That you're incapable of doing things. Only you can make things happen.

This might seem a bit of a depressed newsletter but it shouldn't be. All I wanted to do is make you aware that you're not alone when it comes to weird thoughts, strange writing ideas, lack of support, or any other possible things that keeps you from doing what you enjoy the most. Do what makes you happy and gives you peace.

'til next time!
~ Gaby