Sometimes we just can’t write. I’m not talking about writer’s block. I’m talking time. I’m talking the ability to focus. I’m talking some kind of physical limitation.

I usually write everyday. Rain or shine. I’ve never had writer’s block. But this past week has found me unable…

For a few days I could not write because I was unable to see very well. You see, I tried to glue my eye shut. Not on purpose. No, I thought I was putting eye drops in my eyes but it turned out to be glue I’d used on my sofa to keep the fabric from fraying.

And then my brother was admitted into the hospital, and I learned he might be on his death-bed. When something like this happens all kinds of feelings get dredged up.

And I find that it is next to impossible to focus on FINDING VERITY the novel I’m writing.

So, what does a person do? What did I do? What am I doing?

First of all, as writers we can write about the experience. So, that’s what I’m doing right now…

Secondly, we can cement the events into our brains, so when we need to pull part of it out to use in a future story, we’ll be able to do it.

The glue experience… the realization of what I’d done, the pain, the inability to see, the confusion, the screams, the fear, the total dependence on someone else to help me, understanding that I’d been in a heap of trouble if I’d been home alone. Going to the hospital. Not having to wait in the emergency room because my accident went flying to the top of the triage, the caring nurses and doctors, and the acceptance that my life was going to be “on hold” for a few days.

Getting the news about my brother.  Ooh boy, all those memories from my childhood and the resultant emotions that surface. The sadness, accepting that this might be the end of my brother’s life, realizing there’s nothing I can do about it. Facing my own mortality. And then I realize, this could be my husband or my child. I can only imagine what my mother is feeling right now.

Some time in the future, these things might show up in my writing. In fact the experiences might make me a better writer.

But, right now, I am unable to work on my novel.