Wash mug, fill with hot water, grab your third teabag of the day.
there!
see it?
the smallest glimmer?
That word. That story. The way it comes back, again and again.
again!
buzzing
buzzing
buzzing
in the mind.
What was that idea?
reach up with
clumsy hands
untrained eyes
stuttering mouth
to grasp it.
but the tiny fire
flies away
refusing to settle
into a phrase.
I knew how to open this. I had the perfect sentence constructed. I remembered the line that would bind all these thoughts together.
But I forgot.
return tomorrow
armed with
your own voice
persistence
and a pen.
and the next day
or the next
next
next
next
you capture
something
on the page.
something new
born from ink
flutters
in the draft.
Charge the laptop. Switch the pen. Just keep the momentum going.
no lightning strikes
but a chrysalis
grows.
Revision, revision, revision. Rewrite, delete, rewrite, revise. Edit. release!
no
not ready
not yet
not ever.
Revision, revision, revision. Rewrite, delete, rewrite, revise. Edit.
Release!
Submit. Wait. Submit. Submit. Wait.
a thousand wings
lift
fold
crease
folios taking flight.
On paper, on screen, will you see my words?
and
somewhere
someone
uncovers thousands of
consonants
vowels
sentences
buzzing
buzzing
buzzing
in her mind.
Courtney Zonnefeld graduated in 2018 with a degree in writing. She currently lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she works for Eerdmans Books for Young Readers. In her free time, she enjoys reading, baking, and saving up for more herb plants. You can usually find her wandering a farmer’s market, hunting for vintage books, or browsing the tea selection in coffee shops.
