It was a dark and stormy night. After tossing and turning for what seemed like hours nothing had come to him, nothing inspiring that is. “Honey, should I go sleep in the other room?” Lilly asked.
“No,” replied Allen. “I am going to get a bowl of cereal That always does the trick.”
My poor wife has lost too much sleep already this week. This insomnia is getting old.
He made it out of the bedroom, went out on the back porch and stepped out to a wonderful Florida breeze that instantly calmed his tired mind.
It was pitch dark. He stopped several feet from the pool and took in a slow deep breath. As he stood staring at the ground, the pool started to take on light. He glanced up as one small cloud drifted by revealing the most unbelievable full moon shining down on him.
He just stood there letting the moonlight flush his thoughts away, hoping that the trade winds would take him in the direction he was seeking. Nothing came. He took another deep breath, sighed and turned to head back towards the house when he met his shadow. As he moved it followed. He took one step back.
“Moon shadows,” he said out loud. Nothing came from it instantly.
The weather tonight was grand but for Allen Reardon, a storm had been ravaging in his mind. It was just part of the job. He would do as always and just let the words float around his head stirring like the leaves in a windstorm.
He just needed that trigger, something to release him of obligation and pressure to perform, freeing his analytical mind. It had to come naturally and without work, fun and imaginative.
It always came out of nowhere – like an easterly wind carelessly drifting inland from the sea.
What would trigger this downpour onto the pages of his latest thunderhead? After weathering so many storms, he was seaworthy enough to know that all it took was a vision, a name, or even this spectacular moon. ANYTHING!
And when that thing came to him, it would catch his mind’s eye enough to bring a relaxing wind of change, a drop in pressure and release him, filling his sails.
Despite the turbulence, this eye of tranquility he was enveloped in tonight reminded him of Snoopy and his ill attempts to start writing his latest masterpiece. It was just funny to render a chuckle and with that immediately followed release!
And like so many times before, standing on the back porch, it came like a flash of lightning! His mind experienced that welcoming parting of clouds and down pour of thoughts.
And days later he would find himself handing over to his ever so patient wife his latest manuscript, Moon Shadows, a novel about teen vampires and their moon-auras that gave them away. Six months later it would make the New York Times Best Sellers list for eight consecutive months.