Writers Block or What Was I Thinking?

Maggie squealed in frustration and pushed her chair roughly back from the desk, jumped up and out of the chair and stormed over to the window of her office. Placing her hands on the sill she glared out at the sunny day, ignoring the wispy clouds that floated serenely in the sky above, ignored the mossy green eucalypt branches that swayed in a slight breeze outside the window. Didn’t hear the magpies warbling cheerfully as they perched in said tree.

‘Damn it,’ she said aloud to no-one, being alone in her office, ‘It’s so frustrating! Why can’t I think of anything to write? Arrgh!’ She swiftly paced the four steps between the desk and the window and back again. ‘What am I going to do?’.

Stepping around the desk, she dropped back into her chair and rolled it back to the desk. Reaching across the dark timber she picked up the handset and dialed her friend Kelly’s number, the whir of the rotary dial echoing her mood, or at least it felt that way to her. The steady rhythmic brrt brrt of the ring tone a counter point to the impatient tapping of her nails on the desk.

The shrill ringing of the wall phone in her kitchen startled Kelly as she was passing it. She yelped in fright, almost dropping the coffee mug she held in her hand. Reaching out, she picked up the receiver off the hook.

Kelly:                ‘Hello?’ she asked, a little breathlessly.

Maggie:             ‘Hi Kelly, it’s me, Maggie.’

Kelly:                ‘Oh, hi Maggie, how’re you doing, what’s up?’ she asked.

Maggie:             ‘I’ve entered this short story writing competition, just for the fun of it, you know? I mean, why not, right?! and I’ve been trying for days but just can’t think of anything! I mean, they’ve given some great prompts, but I’ve got nothing. Absolutely nothing! No ideas at all’.

Kelly:                 ‘Maybe you should take a break, you know, go for a walk or do some yoga or something, that usually works for you’, she suggested.

Maggie:             ‘I tried that already, and listening to music, I even cleaned the bathroom and did the dishes and did a load of washing! You name it I tried it but nada!’ was her despondent reply. ‘I even did some ironing, and you know how much I loathe ironing!’

Kelly:                 ‘Oh my, you, ironing?  Wow, that is bad. I’m sorry, I don’t know what else to suggest. Has it been that bad before?’ she asked. She wrapped and unwrapped the spiral cord that tethered the handset of the phone to the base around her fingers as she leaned against the countertop.

Maggie:             ‘Yeah, actually, it has. You know my book, ‘Island in the Sun’?’

Kelly:                 ‘Of course, how could I forget it? It was a best seller, and you won that literary award! It was fantastic and I was so happy for you!’ Kelly said with a smile. ‘But I don’t remember you having any problems writing that one.’

Maggie:             ‘Well, no I didn’t, not with that but about two years before that one I had started on a different one, but, of course, I hit that stupid writers block didn’t I! No matter what I did I just couldn’t get anything out of it. Every time I picked up my pen to write I just couldn't. Didn’t matter what I did!’

Kelly:                 ‘Oh no, that’s awful,’ she replied, ‘I know how much you love to write.’

Maggie:             ‘Exactly! Well anyway, do you remember that trip I took to Vietnam?’

Kelly:                 ‘Yes of course I remember,’ she said and was glad that Maggie wasn’t there to see her rolling her eyes. ‘You wouldn’t shut up about it! Kept going on and on about how wonderful Vietnam was, how great the food was and how nice the Vietnamese people were.’ Only a little, okay a lot, of sarcasm seeping out.

Maggie:             With a laugh she said ‘okay okay, I did bang on about it a bit, didn’t I? But hey, I really enjoyed that holiday! It was so much fun, and I came back so relaxed and refreshed! So, anyway, I was so inspired when I got home, that I sat down and wrote the first draft of ‘Island’ in two months!’

Kelly:                 ‘Oh wow! That’s fantastic, I hadn’t realized! That’s what you should do then! Go on holiday!’ she suggested.

Maggie:             ‘Ha-ha! Sure, that probably would help but there’s no time! The submission date is this Friday and since today is Wednesday … I’m running out of time.’

Kelly:                 ‘Ah, I see the problem. So, tell me, what are the prompts anyway?’ Curiosity colouring her voice.

Maggie:             ‘Hm, let’s see, one was along the lines of "write a story from the POV of a now defunct piece of technology", another was, er, "write a story with a character or the narrator saying, 'I remember'" and um, then there was something like "write a story in the form of a landline phone conversation", and I can’t remember the others, but you get the idea?’

Kelly:                 ‘Oh, wow! I can see why you’re struggling with it! What are you going to do?’

Maggie:             ‘I wish I knew.’ she replied.

Kelly:                 ‘Hey,’ she exclaimed, ‘I have an idea, why don’t we go see that new Tom Cruise movie tonight? You know, his latest Mission Impossible one? Maybe that’ll get your creative ideas flowing!’

Maggie:             ‘Oh, I don’t know. Maybe, I guess it’s worth a shot. It’s better than sitting here and getting more frustrated at my lack of creativity. It will at least get my mind off it I suppose,’ she agreed, ‘and if it gives me some ideas, even better!’

Kelly:                 ‘Great, hang on a moment while I get the newspaper and check the cinema guide.’

Maggie heard the soft click as Kelly put the phone down on the kitchen countertop, listened to the swift clicking of Kelly’s sandals on the lino floor receding as she hurried off to get the paper, then growing louder again as Kelly came back to the phone, heard the rustling of the paper as Kelly searched for the cinema guide.

Kelly:                 ‘Okay, right, here it is. They’ve got two screenings at the Twin Cinemas this evening, 4:30 in the Odeon and 6:30 in the Forum,’ Kelly told her, ‘which would you prefer?’

Maggie:             ‘Um, let’s go with the 4:30. We can go to the pub after and have a couple of drinks,’ she suggested, ‘maybe have dinner there as well. Might as well make a night of it.’

Kelly:                 ‘Sounds good to me,’ she said. ‘Shall we meet in the foyer at 4?’

Maggie:             ‘Sure, it’s a date,’ she said with a laugh, ‘see you then’.

Kelly:                 ‘Yep, can't wait, ‘bye.’ She said and hung up the phone.

Maggie replaced her receiver in its cradle and leaned back in her chair. ‘Hm,’ she thought, ‘that is a good idea, in fact it’s given me a really good idea for my story!’ Sitting forward and picking up her pen, she started writing, pictures of action heroes and villains flitting through her head.