I woke up in darkness, a normal thing this time of year on the Canadian prairies. At some point during the night, a light rain shower had happened. Unlike yesterday when I woke up to minus temperatures, today was a balmy +7 Celsius. I have to admit it, I couldn’t resist experiencing the smell and feel of moisture in the air. I took out my good camera and tripod to attempt capturing an image to mark this moment. Some of you might know that we are in the midst of a drought and there is no end in sight.
There is no doubt that drought affects the mental well-being of a person. People become more anxious and irritable, less resilient to the local, regional and global challenges that assault them via mass media and social media. People become listless and angry. These responses to drought are the same whether the drought is weather related, relationship related, work related, or about a dry spell in one’s creative endeavours.
I am one of the lucky ones. I am older and have no worries about my future. I know that I am on the slippery slope that will only end with my becoming a memory. It almost is a relief as it allows me to feel I have more freedom to do what I really want to do – within reason of course, after all, I do live in a community and there are laws.
As a writer, I have experienced creative droughts, some of which lasted longer than I would have preferred. I still experience droughts but they don’t seem to last as long. It only takes a tiny crack in the drought, such as last night’s brief shower, for me to rush in and allow the ideas to come to life. I am more willing to take risks with my writing, and for some reason I begin to believe that my writing is getting better because of it.