POST CARDS FROM THE MUSE

A Writer’s Vacation

We took a trip out of town just to get away for a couple of days. Now two days is not very long and there’s no reason to drive far, so we ended up in a small town four hours north of our house. The town doesn’t have very many activities, but I’ve always told people that a creative person is never bored. And I think we proved this again.

Forty miles from our hotel was a museum dedicated to a well-known outlaw gang. This was a small museum, but full of character.  The tour started in a barn that had been renovated and made into a gift shop. The loft had been converted to a museum full of items depicting life in the days of the outlaws and history of the county. Back down on the first floor of the barn, one wall opened up to an underground tunnel leading to the main house on the property. The property had been owned by the sister of the brothers in the marauding gang and they were known to visit her when they needed to “cool their heels.”

As I stepped into the tunnel, a sense of adventure in a different time crept up my spine. Tunnels and secret passages have always fascinated me, and this one delivered that scrumptious snack for my imagination. I could almost hear the voices of the bad guys as they flew through the underground space to the house up the hill from the barn. I pretended to hear them shush each other and climb the stairs into the kitchen of the little house.

The next attraction on our itinerary was the Wizard of Oz museum. As a child, my life revolved around this movie, and even now as an adult who recognizes and loves good writing and good plots, this was my holy grail.

Our tour guide was a young actress dressed as Dorothy and she led us through the little white house that the museum society had erected to represent Dorothy’s House, which was full of period items to illustrate what life was like at the turn of the century. After going through every room of the house we headed to “the Land of Oz” where movie scenes had been built to re-enact the movie.  My heart beat a million beats a minute and I had to fight tears of excitement, just as if I was a little girl again. And, just like in the outlaw hideout tunnel, my imagination took over. A story concept popped into my head and heightened my experience even more.

When you feel writer’s block coming on, try taking a sight-seeing road trip. Even a small, unknown place will have a story hiding behind a door or in a barn, under a rock or just out in a field. It’s up to you to find them.

Congratulations. You have just received a post card from the muse.

Nandy Ekle