Imagination

As I look outside this April morning, and find fresh snow covering the ground, I find myself lost in a daydream of beaches, palm trees, the ocean, pirates, buried treasure and daring adventures. Adventures that, as a child, were not too far away on a fine, snowless, April day. In my imagination at least. But why must we only have imaginary adventures as children? Why do I find it so much harder to let my imagination run wild now that I am an adult, when it was so effortless only a few short years ago?

Perhaps it's because I know too much now. With knowledge comes loss of childish innocence. I know, though I hate to admit it, that the pirates I read about in stories simply do not exist in today’s world, flying is only for the airplanes and birds, and finding your true love takes more time and patience than the story books would suggest. And something as children we would contribute to magic, now has a scientific explanation. The world becomes so much darker and boring when the imagination one had as a child becomes harder to come by.

As a writer, you can probably imagine how this lack of imagination might become an issue. Every day I fall deeper and deeper into reality and it has become nearly impossible to pull myself back into the imaginary worlds of my stories. I find myself criticizing the unrealistic aspects of it all and forget why I’m writing in the first place. I don't write my stories to re-tell what "realistically" happens in the world we live in. I write to give people an escape from this boring, imaginationless life. I write to give people hope that with a little faith, some hard work, (and yes, occasionally a little magic and imagination) anything is possible. Hope that life doesn’t have to be what it seems to be.

Imagination is a crazy thing. You don't need to buy anything to have it, you can be by yourself or with a group of friends, you don't have to be good at it, you just do it. Imagine what it would be like to live in a different world, a different place, to be on a daring adventure, or a relaxing vacation. And once you start imagining, you'll realize some of the things you’re imagining have become dreams. And you know the wonderful thing about dreams? Dreams have a funny way of being able to mold themselves into reality. Dreams can come true. And perhaps it won't turn out exactly as you imagined, but with some hard work and a little faith, your imagination can carry you to a whole new reality. One where life maybe isn’t quite so... Ordinary... One where the ground isn’t blanketed with fresh white snow in April...