Writer's Block

Minneapolis, MN

I've come to realize that there seems to be one way for me to really write regularly. I think it involves being able to walk frequently.

The suburbs are not providing this for me.

I have really lived in a suburban area for a quite a few years, and I've forgotten how often one has to drive from place to place. Sure, I could walk around the block, but it's the same set of houses that have been there for twenty-five-plus years. There has been remarkably little change in the neighborhood that I grew up in. So there seems to be remarkably little to provide some mental stimulation.

Perhaps that what's really missing. Lots of mental stimulation. I'm not even reading very much. I'm not even sure where the time has been going, during the day.

Not that things changed rapidly in my old neighborhood. I'm here at the coffee shop again (seems to be the only place I can sit and write with any kind of coherence) where I generally spent most of my time outside of my apartment in Uptown. It's a place of subtle changes, though. The art peaces change on the wall, as the shop features new artists. They changed bakers once. That did not receive high acclaim. A week later, it was changed back.

Fortunately, I have been doing more thinking about the next leg of my vagabond days. I'm headed to Scotland for a two weeks, followed by another four in Central Europe. It'll be a little more whirlwindy. I don't want to make it like my first backpacking trip to Europe, but I probably won't be staying three weeks in one place, like Argentina.

So I've thought that I really aught to write the location of the post at the top. Seems a little journalistic, and also a little pretentious, but, hey, it'll keep people up to speed with where I'm at. Plus it eases up the whole writer's block. Just getting a few words typed can help trigger a bit more.