Your choice

People ask where I get my ideas for these musings. Sometimes it is something I see during the week or a phrase I hear that triggers a “hmmm, that could develop into three paragraphs.” On rare occasions, the pieces write themselves, but mostly, I’m surprised where things end up or how a promising idea goes nowhere beyond a couple of sentences. Usually there are too many possibilities. Consider the headlines. From marches and pink hats to an infant named for a city (hey, it could have been Walla Walla), the material is ripe.

So, this week, I thought I’d give you a glimpse into some of the stops and starts that lead to a weekly column. Following are five opening thoughts I had for today’s blog. Select the one that triggers that “hmmm” and just see where your mind goes for 10 seconds.

• Women are gathering, as they did a year ago, to stand together.
• Harbingers of spring popped up all around today
• A milestone is a stone pillar at the side of the road that signifies the distance to a place, a very literal thing but whose meaning evolved.
• Learning to simply say thank you is hard.
• Take a class on writing headlines and, nine times out of ten, they will tell you to include a number. 

If you did the 10 second, “hmmm” on one of those topics, you’ve experienced a lot of what my weekly attempt at sharing some thoughts with you is like. Either a couple of things came to mind and you wonder how they might fit together, or your mind went blank. Now, isn’t that how a lot of life works on a daily basis, and who knew that’s where this final sentence would go? 

Marilyn