Quiet! Writer at work.
I write in my head. That’s probably true for most writers. You start with an idea: a tiny, fragile egg to be protected and nurtured.
While my body is working out, washing dishes and folding clothes, my mind is elsewhere. I’m building a nest for my egg, picking up and discarding twigs, bending and shaping them to my purpose. Thinking.
I warm and nurture the idea as it matures. I think aloud, often in my car, and the first, tiny cracks appear, signaling the time is ripe for my idea to hatch.
This is the dangerous part. The fledgling idea is vulnerable; it will be a while before it is strong enough to be on its own.
Many are lost before they ever see the light of day. A good, stiff cross-breeze can shake the branches of my brain, and just like that, Splat! The idea plummets to the ground and is forgotten.
A torrential downpour of daily obligations may drown my fragile idea.
Or it can be snatched away by my pets, Laziness and Apathy. They are always on the prowl about the house.
I cannot breathe easy until my little idea has been safely typed into the fortified nest of Word and strengthened with offsite backup. Now I can concentrate on fattening it up, feeding it a special diet of regurgitated adjectives, adverbs and prepositional phrases.
At last the big day arrives. My little idea has grown plump and strong, and is ready to try its wings. I kick it out of the nest.
Fly free, little blog post!
Soar above the turkeys.
My baby!
Peg-o-Leg's Ramblings 
Turkeys? What turkeys?
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Did I say turkeys? I meant all the Birds of Paradise that fly the friendly skies of WordPress!
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Right – let me ponder that while I fluff my feathers…
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Sorry if they were ruffled.
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I think she’s talking about me. Dad always said, “You can’t soar with the eagles if you flock with the turkeys.” Although, I’m not so sure that turkeys flock.
Aw! Isn’t that cute? Laziness is all snuggled up with me on the couch… mmmm…so warm…
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Dads are not required to make sense when they dispense their sage advice to their chicklets.
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Actually, turkeys are pretty linear. They march, single file across the road until my car appears. Then they lose all sense of direction and self-preservation and just run around until they figure out how to get into the trees. (Sorry for the Wild Kingdom sound-bite. We live in the sticks and see turkeys every couple of weeks. As opposed to those who read WordPress and see turkeys daily!)
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Dad also said, “Don’t write a check with your mouth that your ass can’t pay for.” Dad was always looking out for me.
Turkeys creep me out a little bit now.
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I think I like your Dad!
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He’s all right… for a turkey 😉
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i do this too… my mind is always someplace else
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Perfectly understandable, as long as your brain makes it back in time when truly needed – explaining to boss why you logged 4 hours on Facebook today, algebra test, choosing paint for the living room…
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haha, I have this funny image of my little blog post crashing on to a bunch of angry turkeys. Poor little blog post. That’s why you have to make sure that it is good and strong before you let it fly free. Otherwise, it might get mistaken for Thanksgiving dinner.
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You’re smart to protect your little blog post. It’s a tough world out there, and the turkeys are all around us.
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Really like this one, Peg! Definitely Freshly Pressed-worthy, in my book!
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Thanks, o Lib. One can only hope!
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It’s those damn cuckoos are the problem: They kick the interesting ideas out of the nest and you end up nurturing the daily delivery of massive problems.
Oops . . metaphors majorly mixed there: milkmen, cuckoos, hornbills, gas bills .. see what I mean . . .
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I do some of my best work when I’m mixing metaphors!
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Lovely, Peg. I find myself thinking of blog posts to write while I’m doing yoga, which isn’t really the way yoga is supposed to work! But it’s better than thinking about the pain. Thanks for this!
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Aren’t you supposed to be centering, or soothing your inner child, or something like that?
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Ha! This is a tricky one – having my mind elsewhere happens to me many times (thinking about my blog posts, about grocery items, about my next weekend etc, you get the idea!), sometimes it’s alright when you are doing activities like washing dishes, or laundry stuff or whatever, where it’s alright when I am just physically present there. Other times, you’ve got to explain yourself … 🙂 you are a fun writer!
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Probably not smart to be mentally in Tahiti when your boss is talking to you. Thanks for the kind words!
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