Liam stared at the blinking space bar on Microsoft Word on his old, slow Windows XP computer. Writers block; his worst nightmare. If only he could think of something to write about. Liam Norris is a famous writer. He’s won many awards for his sci-fi fantasy series called The Men on Mars. He is a skinny, tall shy man in is twenties. Liam glanced at the clock sitting on the table in the corner of his bedroom. 2:38 am it read.
“Ugh I need a break,” He mumbled in a sigh as he grabbed his once warm coffee. He scratched his face which was covered in after shave. Liam was under quite a lot of stress. He just finished his Men on Mars trilogy and with all the praise the series got, everyone can’t wait for his next book. He walked out and dumped his drink in the kitchen sink. When he walked back in his room, he snatched his acoustic guitar off his bed. Not only was Liam a gifted writer, he also could play music pretty well. Sometimes playing music helped him calm down and relax. He’s found his best ideas while playing guitar. Over half of the concepts from his sci-fi books were found through music. All he does is play a simple tune and whatever it reminds him of he turns into a story. One time he played a calm tune that turned into a fast, upbeat, intense song that gave him the idea for a war on mars; the whole concept of his famous books.
But now, Liam can’t think of any song to play. He’s played so many tunes; he simply can’t think of any more right now. He decided he should just get some sleep. While his dead line is about a month away before his publisher demands a rough copy, he still needs sleep. He remembered he was going to meet up with his brother Dustin tomorrow. Liam lazily walked over to the light switch, placed his guitar in the corner of the room, shut the door, and collapsed into his bed. Not a second after he hit the bed, he was already asleep.
Liam found himself in at the studio of the publisher in a chair in front of his boss. His boss shouted at him.
“Mr. Norris! Your rough draft was due today! I told you that you need a completely new concept for me. Something that isn’t fantasy! You’re telling me you don’t have any thing for me?” He shouted.
“I-I-I had writers block!” Liam stuttered. “All I’ve ever written about is fantasy! I-I can’t think of anything else!” His boss stood up and pointed his finger at Liam.
“Well I think that you need to get out of your fantasy land!” said his boss as he hit a big red button on his desk with the side of his fist. A buzz sound alarmed as a trap door beneath his chair collapsed. Liam screamed as he fell infinitely.
Liam awoke and found himself in his bedroom once more. It was alright. He still had at least a month. He glanced at his clock. 11:29 am it read. Crap! I forgot! He thought. Dustin’s coming over for lunch! He’ll be here any minute! Liam jumped out of bed. It’s a good thing he slept in his clothes last night, because he didn’t have to change. He quickly slid on his socks and shoes, grabbed his jacket and before he knew it, the door bell had already rang. Liam nearly tripped dashing toward the door. He pulled the door knob.
“Hey Liam!” said a skinny young man about 2 inches shorter than Liam.
“Hi Dustin…” Dustin’s mouth opened wide in a shocked kind of way. Liam glanced down and saw that his jacket was on backwards and his shoes were on the wrong feet. He quickly realized what “wowed” him.
“Oh uh…sorry I was kinda in a rush, I just woke up…” he said as they stepped back in and he fixed his jacket and shoes.
“What? You just woke up?” said Dustin. “Did you stay up all night?”
“I had writer’s block all night. I couldn’t think of anything to write. I stayed up ‘til like 2.” Dustin had a worried look on his face.
“Well maybe you just need a break, that’ll take your mind off of it” said Dustin. “Who knows maybe you’ll find some ideas or something,”
“Yeah whatever. Where are we going?”
“You wanna go to Mac’s? I heard they have some new grilled cheese.”
“Sure,” they walked outside in the chilly snowing winter weather. Dustin is Liam’s younger brother. They are only a year apart from each other. Some even mistake them as twins they look so alike. Liam hopped in his little brother’s truck in the passenger’s seat. For the next 15 minutes, they talked about sports, news, politics and other stuff. Dustin brought up that he proposed to his girlfriend last week.
“Congrats man! When’s the wedding?” said Liam smiling.
“Oh it’s not until July. I’m not sure if I can afford the wedding yet though.”
“Ah. I haven’t seen Hannah in a while.”
“She still in college?”
“Yeah, it’s her last year. I think she’s getting into writing”
“Cool.” Hannah was Liam girlfriend. He hasn’t seen her for a few weeks since she’s been busy finishing collage. He’s missed her a lot lately.
“Here we are,” said Dustin as they drove up to the parking lot at Mac’s.
They walked inside in the snow and squinted their eyes so snow didn’t poke their eyes. When they got inside they both ordered the grill cheese and sat down in a table near the window. Frost covered the window.
“So about that story of yours,” said Dustin. “You really have no ideas?”
“Nope,” Liam replied. “All I’ve ever written about is fantasy; well except for in elementary school and middle school. But all my good writing has been sci-fi or fantasy related. Last night I had a nightmare about it.”
“Well,” said Dustin as he took a bite of grilled cheese and swallowed it. “Have you ever thought of writing about your situation and turn it backwards?”
“What?”
“You know, instead of having a guy that needs to play music to write books, make it a guy that needs books to write songs or something.”
Liam felt as though a light bulb just lit above his head.
“Dustin….you’re a genius!” Liam nearly screamed and a few people in the joint glanced at him. “Come on let’s finish eating, I gotta get home and write that story!” When they both got home, they both started writing the story. The main character was Mail; which is Liam spelled backwards. It was about a song writer that has to write a story for every song he writes; because every song tells a story.
When the book was released, it was entitled Singing’s Block. It was written by Liam & Dustin Norris. The book was a hit. It was the New York Times best seller. They split all the money. Dustin was able to afford the wedding. Later Liam got an e-mail from Hannah early in the morning. Hey Liam!. Can you help me? I’ve got writer's block.
