Where do you go when the inspiration well runs dry and words won’t come? I used to think about a favorite hike or unique place in the PNW to share, and that was all it took to spark a new post. But last year’s unexpected difficulties have silenced my creative side and now it’s hibernating, waiting for a safe time to rejoin the world. At least that’s how I choose to see it. Hibernating is a more hopeful word than gone.
At the same time, I miss writing about the little things I see and enjoy so I’ve been thinking about how I felt when I began my first WordPress blog in January 2013. I was excited about a new way to express myself but unsure how to begin. What kept me writing were weekly, one-word prompts and encouragement from fellow bloggers to share small daily moments that were uniquely mine.
Slowly I built a community that engaged and inspired me ultimately growing to thousands of followers and regular commenters. At its peak, I enjoyed every minute of it but after seven years, life and job changes took their toll. I stepped away from writing and the words dried up.
Twelve years have passed since those early days, and I’m back in the same silent place I was five years ago. I found a fresh start here at Substack and for a year I looked forward to sharing each new post. But, one more time, new life challenges demanded my full focus and my creative well ran dry. I stopped writing.
After exploring my writing journey, where do I go from here? I return to basics, one word at a time. Here’s an example of one of my earliest one-word-prompt posts from 2013. I was still figuring out how to share stories on a page and how to illustrate those words with my favorite PNW photographs, so look at this as a starting point. I thought the theme of change was appropriate for today’s newsletter. I’ve copied it as-is without the edits I might consider today.
Today the Weekly Photo Challenge asks us to select an image that represents change. Looking through my pictures this morning I realized that while my life has been filled with twists, turns, evolutions and surprises I have very few photos capturing these occasions. I thought about the big family moments of birthdays, graduations, weddings and funerals but decided while they were important milestones for me they didn’t make a very interesting post. Next I found a fun but embarrassing snapshot from the first party I attended with my husband 20 years ago. It was Halloween and I was in costume as a character from the original Star Trek series while John was dressed as a priest. I might get over the miniskirt and post it later… stay tuned.
Finally I settled on these two photos taken on a picture perfect August morning in Bellingham, Washington. 2005 was a year full of changes for us as my husband moved through several jobs and by this point in the summer he was unemployed. We were stressed and broke but still wanted to find a way to celebrate our anniversary. My parents graciously invited us to spend the night on their boat while they watched our son and this was the view we enjoyed with our morning coffee.
After two beautiful days away from our troubles we returned home to a message waiting for John with a full-time job offer. He accepted Monday morning and has been employed with the same company since that day so these quiet, still images actually represent a huge moment of change for our family.
Tomorrow I’ll share more details about a new creativity-boosting writing challenge and where I plan to find all my missing words. I hope to see you there!
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Thank you Lisa. Your thoughtful writing is always a pleasure to read. Your basics are strong, giving you a creative foundation to build on. It will be interesting to see where following one word at a time leads you. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and memories.
Good work Lisa. So it is back to writing.
Thank you Lisa. Your thoughtful writing is always a pleasure to read. Your basics are strong, giving you a creative foundation to build on. It will be interesting to see where following one word at a time leads you. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and memories.