THE CONVERSATION

From the publisher: The most provocative conversation is the one I have with myself. I’ve found my lucid and thoughtful stirrings occur late at night, the bewitching hour you could say, while my eyelids are somewhat heavy and I’m about to go to sleep. 

Then it happens like a flash of lighting from a distant storm. Though sometimes it’s just an itch that I have to scratch. An idea from somewhere in the recesses of my brain cause my eyelids to abruptly open. “Of course, that’s it.” Why do these insights always arrive so late?  I toss them back and forth – arguing, debating the merits and projecting possible resources and outcomes. 

It’s a conversation that my mind is addicted to having on a regular basis and has become an obsession I suppose. My brain meticulously produces and directs scenarios laying out the scenes and the settings where the action is to taking place as well as the actors and their dialogues. 

So, I get out of bed and start to write – an outline for a script. A few pages later I sigh…not bad…I return to the relative comfort my bed knowing I need a new mattress. Except, the kind I want is out of my price range.  

Sleep. A few hours later as the “morning sun” approaches the horizon I have my vente green tea or coffee and start my day by looking at my accumulating emails. 

I connect with contributors and we make a list. 

THE LIST

We sent another email out to a freelance journalist reportedly in Yemen that we have been in contact with. We haven’t heard from her in several weeks. The last time she wrote she said she would get back to us as soon as she saw some light. 

And the light is what NPJ seeks – people who enjoy writing or taking photos (photo or video journalists) or being interviewed about their thoughts and philosophy of existence or interviewing others regardless of where they are at in life – sheltering in an unspecified location or in some remote struggle or war zone. Free-lance writers in a place they currently call a home or writers in exile are always appreciated.