Latest / The Creative Life: Art, Writing, Music & Creative Living / Waiting Room Short Stories: Finding Magic in the Mundane | The Creative Life
Transcript
- The fluorescent lights in that clinic hummed like a trapped insect, and I realized I was holding my breath just to keep the story from escaping. You know that specific kind of silence? It’s not really silent. It’s thick with the smell of antiseptic, the low murmur of a television broadcasting something about weather or sports that no one is watching, and the rhythmic squeak of rubber soles on linoleum. I was sitting there last Tuesday, nursing a sprained ankle that had swollen to the size of a grapefruit, waiting for a doctor who was clearly behind schedule. And while everyone else was scrolling through their phones, doom-scrolling through news feeds or texting frantic updates to loved ones, I found myself doing something entirely different. I started looking. Really looking. Not at the people as obstacles or annoyances, but as characters. There was a woman across from me, maybe in her sixties, wearing a cardigan that looked like it had been knitted by someone who loved her very much. She wasn’t looking at her phone. She was staring at a potted plant in the corner, a sad little fern drooping under the harsh light. And I thought, what is she thinking about? What story is happening inside that quiet head? That moment shifted for me. The anxiety of the wait didn’t disappear, but it changed texture. It became less about impatience and more about observation. This room, this sterile, uncomfortable space we dread, is actually a library of human experience if you know how to read it. We often think of creativity as something that happens in the studio, surrounded by paint splatters or half-empty coffee cups. But some of the best material comes from places we’re trying to escape. In the waiting room, you have to practice a specific skill: seeing without judging. When you’re stuck in traffic, you judge the driver in front of you. You judge the construction crew blocking the lane. But when you’re stuck in a chair next to strangers who are all dealing with pain, fear, or boredom, judgment feels inappropriate. So you observe instead. What’s the texture of that fear? Is it tight shoulders? Is it the way someone keeps checking their watch? Is it the way they adjust their posture to make themselves smaller? I remember noticing a young man holding a small dog in a carrier. He kept whispering to it. 'It’s okay, buddy. Just a little needle.' He was steadier than I was. I was the one with the broken bone; he was the one with the trembling heart. That contrast stayed with me long after I left. It taught me that vulnerability doesn’t always look like crying. Sometimes it looks like kindness to an animal because you need somewhere to put your own tenderness. We miss these details when we rush. We rush to get better, to go home, to be normal again. But the magic is right there in the messy middle of being unwell, being waited on, being exposed. I don’t write full stories in those moments. That would be rude, and frankly, impossible with the noise levels. But I gather fragments. A phrase overheard. A gesture. A color. The shade of blue in a pair of scrubs. The way the light hit a water stain on the ceiling tile. These are the bricks and mortar of fiction. Later, back in my cabin, surrounded by the quiet and the smell of clay dust, I’ll take those fragments and start building. I’ll ask questions. Why is the woman staring at the fern? Maybe she’s remembering a garden she can no longer visit. Maybe she’s afraid she’ll forget what green looks like. I’m not inventing facts; I’m inventing context. This is how short stories are born—not from grand epiphanies, but from small, accumulated truths. It’s okay to be unfinished. The story doesn’t have to be complete yet. It just needs to exist. In that clinic, I wrote three paragraphs in my notebook before the nurse even called my name. By the time I got to the X-ray room, I had a character arc. The woman with the cardigan wasn’t just waiting; she was deciding whether to forgive someone. Or maybe she was deciding whether to leave her husband. The stakes were internal, quiet, and massive. That’s the power of the waiting room. It strips away the performance. You can’t perform health. You can’t perform wellness. You’re just there, raw and real, waiting for relief. There’s a rhythm to pain that most people ignore. It’s a slow, pulsing beat that dictates your entire world. When you’re in pain, time expands. Ten minutes feels like an hour. An hour feels like a day. This distortion of time is incredibly useful for writers. It allows you to linger on details that usually get skipped. In a normal day, you walk past a stranger and see nothing. In a waiting room, you sit with them for forty-five minutes. You notice the scuff on their shoe. You notice the wedding ring that’s too loose. You notice the tremor in their hand. These details ground the story. They make it feel lived-in. I’ve learned to use this expanded time to deepen my characters. If I’m writing about grief, I think about the woman who couldn’t stop adjusting her scarf. If I’m writing about hope, I think about the young man comforting his dog. These aren’t metaphors; they’re observations. And when you translate them into fiction, they carry a weight that pure invention never could. Because they happened. Because they were real. The beauty of short stories is their brevity. You don’t need to resolve everything. You just need to capture a moment. A fragment of truth. And the waiting room gives you millions of them. It’s a goldmine if you’re willing to dig. Most people cover their ears and close their eyes. I open mine wider. So, how do you bring this into your own creative practice? You don’t need to break your ankle. You just need to find your own waiting rooms. The DMV. The airport gate. The line at the grocery store. Any place where you are forced to pause, to be still, to be around other humans in a state of suspension. Put away the phone. The screen is a barrier. It blocks out the world and it blocks out yourself. Instead, look up. Look around. Ask yourself: what’s the texture of that? How does this person move? What do they care about right now? Write down one detail. Just one. It might seem insignificant. It might seem like nothing. But trust me, it’s something. That detail will anchor your story. It will give it life. And when you’re back in your safe space, your studio, your desk, you can expand on it. You can fill in the blanks. You can imagine the history that led to this moment. This process takes the pressure off. You’re not trying to create a masterpiece. You’re just collecting scraps. You’re gathering wood for a fire. And eventually, that fire will warm you. It will light up your page. It will tell a story that only you could tell, because only you were paying attention. I want to invite you to try this. Next time you’re stuck somewhere, feeling frustrated, feeling impatient, flip the script. Don’t fight the wait. Lean into it. Let it be part of your art. Use it. Let the discomfort sharpen your senses. Let the mundane become magical. Because the truth is, most of our lives are spent waiting. Waiting for results. Waiting for love. Waiting for permission. Waiting for the next thing. But what if we stopped fighting the wait? What if we used it? What if we saw it as a gift? A chance to witness the beautiful, messy, complicated humanity of the people around us. That’s where the stories are. They’re not hiding in the stars. They’re sitting in plastic chairs, tapping their feet, worrying about bills, loving their pets, hoping for a miracle. They’re here. They’re real. And they’re waiting for you to notice them. So look closer. See what you’ve been missing. And then, when you get home, write it down. Let the ink spread on the paper. Let the story breathe. It’s okay to be unfinished. It’s okay to be uncertain. Just begin. Start with the scuff on the shoe. Start with the drooping fern. Start with the hum of the light. That’s where it all begins. Take care of yourselves. Keep your eyes open. And remember, the magic is in the mess. I’ll see you next time.