Shooting the Breeze - Aug. 27

I have writer’s block. As I sit here staring at a blank computer screen it is Friday afternoon and my column is due at 4 p.m. Thankfully, I also have a new book at my disposal that is supposed to help. On the front of this week’s paper I wrote a story about Sandra McCurry and her new book, “Awakening your Muse.”

As I sit here and lament the joy that is writer’s block, I have decided to put her work to the test. I flipped to a random page – 37. There’s a photo of one of Ms. McCurry’s more eclectic drawings – a swirly-twirly jumble of purple, blue and green shapes that she titled “World of Music.” When I was conducting our interview, she showed me this exact photo and asked, “Doesn’t it just look like music?”

It did then and it does now. The writing prompt that accompanies the artwork asks readers to choose a piece of music that affects them emotionally. As the music plays, we are to think of any visual images it evokes and to write about those images or how the music makes you feel.

So now I have to think of a song. That’s a toughie. I have weird taste in music. I’m just as likely to hear Christmas tunes as Dr. Dre or Creedence Clearwater Revival if I hit shuffle on my iPod. My iTunes also tracks how much I listen to a particular song and places those songs in my top 25 playlist. Looking over that playlist, I see songs that I know by heart – every word and note. They’re all things I like to sing along with – loudly and badly.

The one that’s speaking to me right now is “One and Only,” by Adele. This song came out on the album “21,” which referred to her age at the time of production. Though I was 32 at the time I purchased it, it spoke to me on levels that were deeply spiritual. I was going through a divorce. I was in the worst shape of my life. To say I was a wreck would be an insult to wrecks. This album played on repeat and was often the only thing that helped get me to sleep at night.

Though it wasn’t a radio hit like “Rolling in the Deep,” or “Set Fire to the Rain,” “One and Only” gave me an emotional healing balm that I desperately needed. Its music is haunting – and boy, can Adele do haunting, but its message was hopeful. It’s one of the few songs on the album that isn’t about a breakup – mainly because the singer herself was going through one while writing those lyrics. For “One and Only,” she collaborated with Greg Wells, noted for his Gospel-style pop sound also featured on One Republic’s “Apologize.”

The lyrics speak of entering a new relationship, “I don’t know why I’m scared, I’ve been here before. Every feeling, every word, I’ve imagined it all. You’ll never know if you never try to forgive your past and simply be mine.”

Keep in mind I was still reeling from the end of my relationship and there was no one I was secretly singing this song to – it just made me feel better to think that maybe life didn’t end when my marriage did. Every time I hear it now, I think about my husband who I met and then married in January 2013. One line in particular proves to me that there are no coincidences in life.

“Will I ever know, how it feels to hold you close and have you tell me – whichever road I choose you’ll go.” Turns out, I did get to know that after my husband picked up and moved across Texas so I could take care of my dad after my mom passed away. I told him we needed to go and he said, “When?” That’s the kind of guy he is. The kind of guy the girl in the song is thinking about. Maybe that song reached me right when I needed it most. I think so and I think that’s why it’s still one of my top 25 songs.

This column was fun to write and I have Ms. McCurry to thank. I encourage anyone who enjoys art, writing or any form of creativity to check out “Awakening your Muse.” It might just be the tool you’re looking for to get those creative juices flowing.