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Creativity and imagination are essential tools for a writer. They’re the source of our stories, our characters, and plots. Imagination provides the answers to the constant “What ifs?” and “What’s next?”, and “What would this character do in this situation?”

The curse arises when a writer’s mind becomes trained to always be asking. “What if?” Depending on the writer’s mood and situation, the answers to “What if? “ can lead to some undo anxiety until reasoning [prevails,. A simple example of this is when you were a child you might have imagined monsters beneath your bed or hiding in your closet. Eventually, you learned to rationalize away your fears, or maybe there really is a monster hiding in your closet. Better go check.

An example of where my imagination gets the best of me is when you increase the variables. We take our Husky for a walk daily. One wouldn’t perceive this as dangerous for any reason. We live in a middle-class rural neighborhood with no crime. The common sense you were taught as a child should allow one safe passage about our streets. Two variables exist that always give me reason to ask: “What if?” We have two Asian Indian families residing and driving on our neighborhood streets. Indians can’t drive, and as far as I can tell, they have little respect for the lives and property of others .One Indian is a retired professor. We were initially on friendly terms. I stopped talking to him much when I could no longer tolerate looking at his mouth of rotting and missing teeth. Besides, our Husky really dislikes him. He drives too fast, and it’s a given he’ll end up in a neighbor’s yard each winter. The other Indian lives next door. He drives too fast as well. He’s knocked over his own mailbox so many times he finally erected a brick tower. Big mistake! Not only did he knock over the tower, he suffered substantial car damage. He didn’t give up, however. He had the tower rebuilt. It’s still standing at this point. So while common sense tells me to walk to the side of the road, my imagination always forces me onto a neighbor’s lawn when I hear a car behind us. What if it’s one of the Indians?

Having an active imagination can be a good, even entertaining thing, but it can also leads to some unnecessary scares. Then there’s always imagining things are worse than they really are. That can drive one crazy if not controlled. Drug companies like to abuse our imagination. A simple sniffle or itch is portrayed as some new illness which is only cured if you purchase their drugs. A writer must establish a balance with their creativity. On the one hand, their creativity must be enough to allow the flow of writing ideas. On the other hand. It shouldn’t be so much that the fear of the monster in the closet disturbs their life.