Random Idea Generator: Earliest Childhood Memory
I read the tiny slip of paper that I’d taken from the “Random Idea Generator” courtesy of Gadzooks! and I thought to myself “this should be easy.”
Little did I know that those three tiny words would precipitate the largest writer’s block that I’ve had to date: I have literally not written an item for Gadzooks since the day I unfurled that tiny scrap of paper.
“Engine one is out, Captain.” Sandir sounded very calm on the surface, but Captain Shaw knew that tiny warning could prove to be a deadly harbinger.
“Thanks. How …” ah crap I don’t know enough about airplanes to make this analogy work.
How could a topic as innocuous as this hijack my ability to write? Yet here I am, almost one year since my last article and still nothing comes to mind. Oh – I’m sure I could probably dig up some old chestnut about going to the Exhibition with my family and everything ending in tears because my brother wanted to win the stuffed gorilla, or how about the story where I thought the hot air grate at the bottom of the stairwell covered a tunnel that went straight down to hell?
I’ve got a million tiny fragments of recollection, most of which get a bit dimmer by the day. While I’m caught up with the here and now and the where I want to be, most of the experiences and weirdo kid perspectives that made me who I am get lost in the logic and the cold reality of daylight and having to pay bills.
That makes for a bit of wistful nostalgia, but probably not enough for an entire article, and certainly not enough to qualify as being remotely entertaining.
What then, do I do with this paper, this duty, this millstone around my neck? Well, I do what I can, which in this case is to create this open letter of apology and hope that it is enough to change the direction my writing affiliation with Gadzooks! has taken.