A STORY. 59. THE TITLE, LIKE A BEACON

Even though you’re in a bad mood, you are not just strewing. You think of the year ahead. You want just the beginning of a path. The rest of the year can stay an open expanse. Because once you have the sense of the first step to take, you will be able to move.

And then, wondering about that first step, you realize that your mood is no longer quite as bad, as sour, as crabby.

Some people, you know, come to a book’s title at the end. For you, it’s a marker. way off in the distance, just barely visible.

You think of possible titles, then cross off one title after the other.

On the Ethical Implications of a World without Poetry. NO.

The Ethical Implications of Reading Poetry. NO.

On Coming to Read Poetry. NO.

All those NO’s. It sounds like you’re in the terrible twos.

Then, after a pause, you come to The Creative Flame.

It sounds like such a cliche. It is a cliche. But it resonates with you. You decide to make it your marker.

In your mind, you see it standing, far away across many wide open fields, like a lighthouse at the edge of the ocean. A beacon.

You nod silently.

Chapter titles start coming to mind.

Feeding the Creative Flame

Starving the Creative Flame

More Inner Fires

Extinguishing Inner Fires

Glowing Embers Among the Ashes

Fanning Flames

Will the title of the book stay The Creative Flame?

You don’t know. But it feels right to you. It feels, in fact, like the way each of your books began. With an idea, a thought, a spark. And a title.

You are in the nook, leaning back, eyes closed, letting thoughts come into your mind.

Perhaps, you think, the title of the first chapter will be The Accidental Re-Lighting of the Creative Flame. Perhaps the book will begin with your coming across the old second-hand bookstore, opening the door.

Now you open your eyes. You reach for MOMENTS.

The first title that catches you eye is Not Upside Down Only.

To be continued . . .
A STORY. 60. NOT UPSIDE ONLY
https://elsaiselsa.substack.com/p/a-story-60-not-upside-only

A STORY. ALL THE CHAPTERS ... UP TO NOW
https://elsaiselsa.substack.com/p/a-story-table-of-contents-up-to-now

Posted June 26, 2024