Apropos of Nothing

In his notes to Between the Bridge and the River, Craig Ferguson mentions that he wrote the book while he was heartbroken. He then goes on to ask whether it is possible to write in any other condition. I find this idea curious and compelling. My best writing, I think, comes after the heartbreak, when I can look back and see what happened. It comes when I can look back and say, “I made it through the storm.” I’ve had an idea bouncing around in the back of my head for a while. It’s the sort of thing that I approach warily, as I’m not sure it will ever turn in to anything. In a way it’s like meeting that woman who still makes me feel like an awkward, weird junior higher all over again. But the only way to find out if we can become more than what we are is by doing what we have never been willing to do before. I want to start something. I want to create a place for writers. It’s nothing right now, just a borrowed URL, a title, a description box. But I like to believe it’s the start of something. I like to believe the fact that I set it up a few weeks ago and haven’t breathed a word of it since is an indication not that I’m afraid it will go nowhere, but that I’m a little scared of what it might become. And it could be an indication that I’ve been a little lazy about the initial story I was planning on posting. It’s out there, on my old Toshiba laptop. Waiting. Anyway, I call this place The Repository. There’s nothing there yet. But there will be. If anyone here is inspired by a blank screen just waiting to be filled with words, let me know. If anyone here has words but no audience, let me know. I can’t promise that much of anything will come out of this, but I am curious to find out.