Books are fun to read but writing is a much better adventure...

Put a pen in my hand and instantly the dam breaks.



I laugh at life because it reminds me so much of a kid’s first few visits to the dentist; before anyone sets sail on an open journey the imagination is tested then allowed to sift through the gold plated basket on Heavens table for tiny objects that lead to inspiration.



Such practices have helped me turn tree bark into battleships then speedboats, movie cameras and live microphones on the world’s largest rock concert stages.



Writing daily is a backyard stream whose origin is an underground spring. The goal is to never question the presence of thought but chase it like you did when first love seeped into your young arms landing with a major splash in a heart that’s controlled everything you’ve always done.



Then it goes away…



In Justin Timberlake’s new film Friend’s with Benefits his unwritten chapters are challenged when his father’s Alzheimer’s reaches outside the family circle of secrets. I didn’t know of my Grandmother’s illness until it was too late. In this film, the gold plated basket places a lesson in your open palm that goes beyond a love story with Mila Kunis.



Embarrassingly I admit that my decision to run from my Grandmother was wrong. At seventeen I didn’t understand the disease, nor could I figure out why she held so much anger. I assumed it was me because I reminded her of my birth father who had hurt her so deeply.



To watch Justin embrace his father’s changes puts value in the reasons why we should continue to learn more about Alzheimer’s; borrowing from the elders that have lead multiple generations of Native American’s…I ask that you invite your loved ones to write. From birth to the final horizon experience is the perfectly in tune song life sings.



It’s what Nicholas Sparks painted into place in The Note Book.



Writing isn’t easy because we’re trained in our budding years to create stories, build a beginning middle and end or generate the energy to expose a hidden self because diaries were brought into this world to serve as a safe zone.



Harry Potter wouldn’t be if it hadn’t been for JK Rowling’s final breath of survival. She was homeless but not without thought. Mark Twain stayed true to his southern accent turning every page into a blistering hot summer day. Studying his behavior as a writer allows me to rest my hands in the sweat his wrists once made on the pages of a living tree.



Blogging, Texting and Twittering is a great start but compared to what you’ll share with the world after you’re gone…it’s the unexpected vomit the stomach shoots up your throat forcing you to make a decision…spit or swallow.



Find a pen and give it a name. Mine has been dubbed Soul Survivor. The worst of moods or the greatest highs are fun to write about but hardly if ever make it to the morning pages because once Soul Survivor connects with my imagination…I reach father than life allows only to learn all things created should be shared.



Legendary artist Peter Max yelled those words at me during a show.



I will always believe in you first.



arroecollins@clearchannel.com