Interior, day, kitchen. August is milling about, something on his mind. He is looking for something. June enters the kitchen, captures his attention with a nod of head and raised eyebrow. Without asking she has initiated the communication.
AUGUST
Nothin is moving. Full stop. No energy, no emotion and zero motivation.
JUNE
What is the deal?
AUGUST
I don’t know. Started with a full head of steam, best of intentions, ready to roll, but then everything started to go South, slow processing speed, another irritating article on Trump dismantling our democracy, floor needs sweeping. Basic shit piled high.
JUNE
Take a walk, go down to the beach, take a break.
AUGUST
Too much to do. I gotta stay with it and push through. I’ll be fine, just need a quick attitude adjustment. Double espresso and a toasted slab of that wonderful hearth deli wheat bread might help.
JUNE
Maybe you should write it up, talk about it, have one of your characters use it as an excuse. Try to set the stage for catharsis. You are the one always saying that drama needs conflict, what do you say - like the desert needs the rain? So project the malaise outward, assign it to your protagonist as another challenge. Explore the issue and see what comes up. Get it down on paper and off of your chest.
AUGUST
Every time I try that it ends up sounding like a Calvin and Hobbes outtake, or Donesbury or even Christopher Robin and Pooh. I end up on the couch trying to talk my way out of another episode of Imposter syndrome. It can be traumatic as well as therapeutic, and today it feels more like a lethal neurosis with no known cure. Life without parole. I should go for a run.
JUNE
Nobody is suggesting that you compete with those artists, all we ask is movement and effort. You do not need to seek an award, you simply must do that thing that you know must be done, and here that means sticking with your discipline, finding the courage to endure despite your current - and temporary - negative state and carry on. Don’t worry about the finished results - just write. Again to quote yourself, sometimes we do our best work when the situation is the bleakest. Why, as you have often asked, do we sometimes preform best when we feel the worst, or totally bomb when feeling like Kings or Queens?
AUGUST
Good question. I don’t know.
JUNE
Go and explore. Have your coffee, clear your head, sit down and log on. Don’t stare at the blank page, just start writing and go where the flow takes you. You have told me many times that this is where you sometimes find the gems. Don’t push the river Grasshopper. Relax, breathe deep and ask for the assistance of that energy force you find so inspirational. Do what must be done, write what must be written. Cut away all the fat, render it down, find the truth. Your words.
AUGUST
Truth, yeah, seems to playing hide and seek with me today.
JUNE
Your turn to seek.
AUGUST
OK. Thanks.
JUNE
Are your going to say it, or should I quote you again?
AUGUST
Say what?
JUNE
No need to thank me.
August smiles, getting the inside joke, bear hugs June and heads towards the coffee machine.
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