First Word: Suzanne Adam: Trip

What a trip! A 1960’s reference to psychedelic drug experiences: surreal, streaks of bright reds, oranges, shocks of electric blue, streams of green, wavering, dream-like, objects zooming in and out of focus. Perception of the world shifts, mind expanding, taking you beyond the mundane and the normal. A sharpened awareness dawns, in which a writer might seek her muse.
            My moments of inspiration visit me during long walks and in that place between sleep and dreams. The brink of sleep and wakefulness is fertile ground for those small nuggets that just might be the seed of a story, the glimmer of an idea.
            Music also transports me on mind-expanding trips. Listening to Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony with my eyes closed, my mind and spirit take flight. I wish to find the words to match his music, what it does for me. I strive for words that touch others in the same way. The euphoria.
            Yet printed words reach us through our eyes, while music travels a different sensual route, as do smells: the evocative tingling scent of pine needles or the sea. Experiences that affect us in unique ways. Can I aspire to words that match the sound of crashing waves or the fragrance of a rainforest?
            Is a multisensory book possible? I’d choose for my book the fragrances of a redwood forest or dry leaves after a rain and the sound of wind rustling through tree branches. Now to find the words to go with them….