If we were having coffee, I would offer you a windjacket. The wacky, weathered, beachy grill we have chosen for our respite is a bit breezy today. Open to the Indian River view, it crawls down the hillside toward a campsite of beach chairs and picnic tables. The waiters are prepared today, wrapped in sweaters and hats…although just yesterday it as 84, calm and summery.

If we were having coffee, we would stare (as I insist on this photo) at the shark making a meal of a gator …and realize just how many jokes we could spin and how close it comes to a writer’s twisted sense of security. However, we would not be making Florida Gator jokes, either..(I am rather fond of my soon-to-be university)..!

You would tell me about your family’s events this holiday, and your current WIP. We would share the guilt of having shelved our words throughout the past weeks as we prepared for seasonal rituals. I would tell you that moving across the country has left me without one full box of manuscript rewrites and you would patiently, gently once again tell me I need to BACKUP these things! Oh, but rewriting and editing requires pen to paper. It is organic, I say.

We would opt for a glass of wine now, as the wind has stopped and the chairs begin to fill for Happy Hour. We discuss our pages, working through our story’s problems, our blocks, our loss of momentum, those inner battles  and something quite amazing will occur. We will suddenly find ourselves talking with animation, smiling at absurdities, leaning in to the angst of all writers.And with this little awakening, (and possibly, a fine merlot) we would make our pact. Pledge again to meet here next week and show our progress on our stalled novels.

If we were having coffee, we would be enjoying the sunset over the deep blue water and being quite grateful to be here, now. With a new day, a new year, and another chance to get our writer’s hat placed properly~ how lucky is that?

And a final word….Your short story will be sold, and my inquiries will meet with interest, we assure each other. Just must do the work, recommit, find our selves at the desk and writing.

Till next week~

~Haskell’s Pen~

photo credit: Squid Lips, Florida