Hitting a Wall

I am sure I had lots of thoughts today but it has wound down and hit a wall. I am out of thoughts. My mind is clear which is normally a good thing but a very bad thing when one sits down to write. It is hard to write with a clear mind. The best writing comes when the mind is full of thoughts or, at least, very concentrated on one thought.

Sometimes I see people ask how to get out of writers block and I say describe your surroundings. That tends to jump start the mind a bit.

I am sitting at the desk in our living room/parlor/salon/sitting room. I say it is the desk because it is not my desk. It was my father’s desk from the library at our house in Fairfax which does give me some inherited right to say the desk is mine, but my wife uses it as much if not more than me which gives her possibly more right to call it her desk. As it is somewhat more our desk I will call it the desk to avoid any confusion.

There is the ever-present hum of the HVAC system in the air as it keeps the temperature comfortable. I would say it is doing its job but I feel a slight chill in on the skin of my right arm. Who is to say if that is the fault of the unit or if my settings for it are too low. I turned it to heat the other day. Some might call me a bit foolish for that as it isn’t yet heat season but it was cold in the house and I am not one that likes being cold.

I sit at the desk in the mildly comfortable living room typing my journal entry describing sitting at the desk in the mildly comfortable room. I am doing this because I sat down with a clear mind. Not a good thing when one is trying to write, but I said that before. That is what happens when a mind is too clear. It repeats itself. Like a room with mirrors on opposing walls. Thoughts reflecting back on each other.

The keys on the keyboard clatter as I type out these next few words. The time is winding down which is a good thing as I am not sure how much longer I can keep this up. Yet I’ve hardly described the room. My wife coughs from upstairs. She said she wanted to take a shower tonight and I haven’t heard the water running. She heads straight to bed after putting the kids to sleep most nights. My wind down process for the evening has grown to include this journaling and reading for a bit.

The reading has been a fantastic addition. It has helped me fit in an additional 10-80 pages a night. I think it is why my reading pace has increased so dramatically over the last couple months. That and tying reading motivation and gym motivation together. Now if I want to listen to my audio books I have to go to the gym.

There, the timer has gone off and I have completed my task. I can’t say it went well but it went.