After the storm, broken branches, blown leaves, and still the trees blaze. My eye is drawn to reds today. The sky is gray, the air is still and warm. We take a shorter walk today, over downed limbs. Today, I take it slow and let myself be tired. I must decide what to bring to my critique group tomorrow night, and I pick a hybrid essay that only needs a few weeks and decide I’m done. Now, hours later, I realize this isn’t the right way to go, and I hope tomorrow I will have the time and energy to generate something rough and fresh. My extended birthday celebration is finally over, and I’m appropriately fatigued tonight. But tomorrow, I trust the words and ideas will flow.

“If we know that the inevitable setbacks and frustrations are phases of the natural cycle of creative processes, if we know that our obstacles can become our ornaments, we can persevere and bring our desires to fruition.”
― Stephen Nachmanovitch