Now, here is a special one. This story came to me when I was in the middle of a writers' block after finishing two successful stories that I love to write. Obviously, I have to go through creativity fatigue. Add with that is the personal problems, which brings me to my special announcement but I will leave that for another time.
For now, enjoy this two-chapter story of Lincoln and Lisa.
It is Saturday morning in the Loud house, and Lincoln plans to accomplish his homework for the morning. He has the early bird period of 6:13 to his advantage. With a buzz of his alarm clock, he taps it and gets up from his bed.
"This is one Saturday I cannot waste," Lincoln tells to the readers, "Just so you know in history, the Loud House is very wild for a Saturday. But not this morning, it isn't. Perfect to do homework. You see, I have been planning to see Batman vs. King Kong for the whole year. I can't miss it on the afternoon preview. So might as well do my homework for now than later."
He then speeds to the computer desk (but never turns on the computer), covers it with a woven covering, obtains his pencil and paper and sets up his ideal workplace. "Perfect!" Lincoln utters, "Okay, let's set the mood a lovely mug." The 11-year-old then prepares hot chocolate and pours it in the mug filled with cornflakes cereal. "Kinda weird combination. But hey, all to succeed this homework."
Lincoln then goes back to his desk and lays his mug. "Alright, we have the mug, my sleepwear all comfy, my slippers feel like walking on a hotel room. All we need is the perfect tunes to back it up." He afterwards retrieves his phone and plugs his headset in it to listen to a playlist of jazz instrumentals that are played in Starbucks Coffee. With his pencil aimed at high, Lincoln is ready to execute his homework. "Great! Now, the moment has come. Let's do this!"
Three hours later…
Lincoln is down to his last 999 words on his 1000-word essay. But one can tell on his stage right now. His head is buried to the desk. His arm is struck down. His pencil had its lead broke off. His mug was empty but got flipped over, making the left coco dripped to the floor. His headset dropped on the desk. And his pouts echo on the room. "I can't think of anything," he mumbles with a pout.
"Need a little help there?" one person asks him.
Lincoln notices that person speaking to him and learns it to be from Lisa, who is standing right behind him. "Oh, it's just you Lisa," he says.
"I was going to operate on the personal computer setup for a brief glance at the university talks I will attend later," Lisa expounds, "But sensing the negative aura from you physique, might I ask what happened?"
"I was just…being sentimental."
"Let me guess, you have failed to attain accomplishment from your required academic ritual, due to drainage of innovative creativity material and personal behest?" Lisa asks with a hifalutin tone.
"What now?" Lincoln replies.
"You are having mental block, thus you resort to procrastinating."
"I started early. How is this procrastinating?"
"Well, tell me if your current progress."
"It's…" Lincoln then looks back to his workplace and sees only the drastic effect of his subsequent regression. "Well, at least I'm down with one word." He then shows his extremely embarrassing paper.
Lisa reads the word, "The…The. Is that it?"
"Well…uhmm…if you would know the intensity of this task, you would realize the lengths I have to go through," Lincoln defends.
"What is your homework about?" Lisa asks.
"A short story essay. 1000 words. And I have to present it on class."
"A short story? Why could it be difficult for a Western and Eastern literary connoisseur like you?"
"It's probably you don't know how big it is to write a story."
Lisa reflects on this with direct denial since this claim can discredit her expansive knowledge. With that, she defends, "Why I happen to have knowledge and experience on writing a story…This neurological network does not only transmit scientific knowledge you know."
"So, does that mean you can feed on pop culture?" Lincoln follows it up.
"Anything but pop culture. Only the most essential sources of scientific knowledge, human reasoning and logical frameworks."
"Oh. Okay."
"Now, to recalibrate your creativity instincts, let me ask. At the instances of creative writing, what do you mostly associate it with?"
"Lisa, can you just boil it down to plain English?"
Lisa confronts him, "Tell me your writing inspiration?"
When his 4-year-old scholar of a sister asks that moral question, Lincoln attempts to recall of his previous experiences to answer that question. However, none comes to mind. Even with such sparse experience from writing exercises, Lincoln never thinks of an inspiration for his writing. Just a streak of imagination, inspired from different stories from manga to comics to videogames.
"Writing inspiration?" he utters but never utters a question, leaving him dumbfounded and uncertain.
Lisa notices this and subverts him away from his stunned state. "You don't have an inspiration, do you?"
"I have my imagination. That counts," Lincoln asserts.
"Inspiration does not equate to imagination," Lisa explains.
This leaves Lincoln more worried than usual. Even for an imaginative boy with a knack for clever ideas, he is stuck to admit that he has writer's block, or creativity block for this matter.
Because of this, Lisa proposes, "I tell you what. Let me help you by accompanying me to the university talks later. I need someone to be with me there."
"What? Why would I accompany you to a boring, old talk show?" Lincoln counter-argues, "Besides, I have my entire afternoon planned. I'll be watching Batman v. King Kong later. And I can't miss the preview!"
"First of all, it is a special TED Talks keynote presentation, not a talk show. Unless an open forum happens. But I assure it is not one of those trashy talk shows that feature a neurotic host and his unfunny skits. Second, I heard the reception from my university peers. They said the movie is as good as the movie where the bat-themed vigilante fights the Samson-inspired half-human. And from their tone and the video they showed me, I don't think it is positive."
"Well, thanks for ruining that for me."
"I am just trying to help in your homework. Now, accept the offer or not? Or you want to end up in a six-hour session lying on the Freudian chair?"
Lincoln then sighs at the prospect of his current options. He then sarcastically implies, "Well, that wouldn't sure compare to watching to some boring guy talking."
"At my full assurance, you would not regret this."
"Why do you even have in to shoehorn this to me?"
"I thought you might need the inspiration. Besides, you are the closest of a family member who tolerates my intelligence quotient capacity. Mom would be the second closest, but she is unavailable. So, in?"
With a deep sigh, Lincoln utters, "Might well take a shot. This will be one sit through."
Later on, that is exactly what happens. Lincoln reluctantly accompanies Lisa to a TED Talks she is invited in. The two are seated at the back, listening to the last five keynote presentation. Each of them speak from different fields of topic like the contemporary society, populism in the government, biotechnology and psychoanalytic practices, all of which bore Lincoln to make him sleep through all of them.
Noticing this, Lisa nudges him by the arm to call his attention. "Would you wake up? You're not here to snooze for seven hours."
"Seven hours?! Dang it!" Lincoln complains.
"At least you're not the worst to ever sit through this," Lisa shares, "I have to give Lori five cups of arabica coffee to get through the tenth lecture."
"I don't know if that helps," Lincoln indicates. "How do I suppose I find inspiration here? The topics are good but nothing still comes out of my mind."
"Patience, brethren. Inspiration is not served on a silver platter." They then return to listening to the next lecture. They hear the announcer proceed to the next lecture. "Let us call on to the stage, astrophysicist Dr. Luke Genes."
The whole audience then gives a standing ovation to the renowned lecturer. However, Lincoln, having no knowledge of the speaker, comments sardonically to the audience (or to the writer of this story), "Dr. Luke Genes? Seriously. Subtle there. You might as well call a business mogul Donald Duck."
But Lisa silences him. "Hush Lincoln! Respect. He is one of the best astrophysicists in the field." Lisa then climbs to her seat and applauds on his arrival. It is pretty obvious she is a fan. Nevertheless, Lincoln follows in clapping.
The MIT professor then proceeds to his lecture, "Thank you Royal Woods University for inviting me in. As much as I want to present the detailed findings on the new earthly planets discovered, let me proceed then to possibilities. Possibilities that the earth's core was just an ancient habitat with a triassic ecosystem. Possibilities that Pluto has its own gravity that you can say is a safe place to build a home and tuck yourself in a blanket. Possibilities that when you reach the end of the universe, you learn that the vast blanket of dark space was actually black dust. I am not saying all of these are true, not stressing they can be proven true. I want you all to stretch out your minds out of the box. I want to reflect upon facts, but start to open yourself out of the facts. That's how we were able to discover three more planets with potential lifeforms. It may come off as theory but believe on it to be true, and it shall come as truth."
Amidst the inclination to the complicated wording, Lincoln has himself surprisingly focused on the lecture, particularly when Dr. Genes jumps to this part: "Think of it this way. Space, the final frontier. It continues to expand, just as our understanding. It will expand and expand, and more forms of beauty may form out of it. Imagine an eleven year-old with a dream to fly out to space, but gets ridiculed by his peers who throw him many pressures. But he is able to conquer them all because he believed and fought for the possibilities. With the expansion of space, there are a lot to behold."
Lisa then comments, "Wow, this guy's amazing. Though I have to note on the sugary exposition of his philosophy, it is still great. What do you think Lincoln? Lincoln?"
But Lincoln is just stunned at the words from the renowned professor. All the possibilities mentioned in the lecture comes to him. Galaxies. Planets. Nebulas. Asteroids. Comets. Systems. And other celestial beings. Everything colossal in his eyes. The possibilities have now become endless. All it needs a story to back it up. And with a definitive story that he gets to relate to, Lincoln finally gets inspired. "It think I have a story to tell."