Reading the the acknowledgements for Neil Gaiman’s delightful new work I discovered a line about the role Stephen King played in Gaiman’s writing. He encouraged Gaiman to write every day, which is the exact lesson I learned from his book On Writing. It struck me in that moment that I haven’t exactly loved writing this summer. If you love something you should reward yourself by doing it everyday. In fact, you owe it to yourself. I haven’t done it that much thanks to this terrible closed in feeling I get in my gargantuan home. It feels somehow dark and oppressive, which led to the idea of making an accent wall that doubled as color therapy. I did it today with the help of my wife and it worked very well. Suddenly the office I dreaded wandering into is the place that reminds me of how much I love to write.
I wouldn’t call the project done. The beautiful blue wall is nice, but my wife thinks (and I concur) that the space could be made even more elegant by the edition of grey paint to replace the beige marking the other walls. This would mean moving cabinets, which I don’t ever want to do again, but it is such a brilliant idea that I may have no recourse but to give in and do it–or paint around the cabinets.
For the first time in a while I feel happy and energized and I’m writing from this place of love and intention. Next week the Shadowrun Anthology debuts alongside a pretty awesome video game. I’m excited to see how people enjoy it and even more excited to write something brand new.
How’s that for change.