Last night, I was watching a movie. (Okay, it was “Beaches”, a favorite from my high school days. Don’t judge). But all of a sudden, I heard a sweeping, loud, wet noise, and as I paused the movie and jumped up I realized it was a sudden rainstorm. I haven’t experienced a rainstorm that came on that quickly and forcefully since I lived in New Mexico. I went to the porch, reached my hand out, closed my eyes, and grabbed the rain. It was a sacred moment for me. Then I went inside and finished the movie (natch). And then I went to my desk and started on my novel again.

Oh, yeah, I started a novel. I’ve told maybe enough people to count on one hand. And I’ve given some chapters to read, to even fewer. But now you know, too. I stopped writing a couple of weeks ago; I had lost it. But I found it again, and it’s pretty great.

I thought of this song during the rainstorm, and then played it a few times while writing. It’s from 2007, by Great Northern, an LA-based band. You probably know their song “Home”. That’s great, but this one’s better.

Sometimes you can’t force inspiration, you have to be a leaf on the wind of it. Or pull it right out of a rainstorm.

(Lyrics are after the break)

Drink to the sun
We write to millions
You kill everyone
Around you
Save yourself from
From the ground you break
And the lives you take

I lock the door
Spinning the dust
In a room
Still like the sun around you
Don’t like the space of
All our space of
And you’re just become a word