Stop Trying to Write and Go Fly a Kite
By Assunta Maria Vickers, Inland Empire Branch
If ever you find yourself in a writer’s block, stop trying to write. That’s right, get out of your routine and go do something completely different. Change your scene. You do not even need to go very far, to be refreshed.
After surgery to remove a tumor from my femur in 2015, I was housebound for months. The doctor wouldn’t allow me even to toe-touch for balance, as it would disturb the re-placement bone graft. You would think that with all that time, I would have completed my epic life story! But I didn’t write anything. I was in a funk, unable to be creative at all.
One day a friend’s son came by, delivering a set of wheelchair ramps he had constructed for my three doorways, between the house and the outside. Suddenly I could get my wheelchair out of my front door! I could reach down to pick up a hose and water my front yard plants! It was a whole new perspective! It was a gloriously happy day, and I began to regain my inspiration to create my word-paintings again.
Right now, I’m thinking about kite-flying, a lot. It’s something I love to do! World National Go Fly a Kite Day is coming up on April 18th. You COULD celebrate the day by going out to a parking lot or a field, or the beach, and fly a kite with some friends or some children. If you don’t have a kite, buy one or consider making your own. If you don’t have a kid, borrow one or two, and you’ll gain magical eyes! Search for some kite-flying events, plan a trip, or look around online for some of the other big kite festivals around the country or even the world. You also could join the American Kitefliers Association, and find kite clubs and kite retailers.
Finally, you could visit the World Kite Museum up in Long Beach, Washington if you’re up for a road trip. There’s something about running and stretching my arms up into the air, holding a ball of string and controlling the other end…a simple shape made of paper or nylon, while a breeze pulls it up, up and away!! My spirit soars when flying a kite. It has power to pull me out of any funk or block that has me stuck. Perhaps it could do that for you too? Or, if kites are just not your thing, perhaps a drive somewhere off the beaten path? Oak Glen is about to have their first gathering of people in well over a year! Head up there for a slice of pie or some cider and nice fresh clean air.
A change of scenery, even just a different view from your very own yard, can make all the difference! Just do it! Happy Poetry Month! And remember, whatever your style, method or genre, get out to get your juices flowing and… HONOR YOUR STORY.
“Stop Trying” first appeared in the April 2020 issue
of Fresh Ink, the Inland Empire Branch newsletter.