What I’m Blogging

Writing has a rhythm. If you haven’t written for a long time it is tough to find your groove. The need to procrastinate or do other things grows strong. It is the Dark side of the writing force. One that leads to stacks of unfinished manuscripts getting moldy in boxes in the cellar. Must not give into the temptation. Even if it’s a trickle we need to keep the flow going. Even if we stare blankly into the paper in the typewriter, or the laptop screen we must develop discipline to do so.

…We write because we need to…

We don’t write because we want to. We write because we need to. If we don’t then we become miserable people who groan about why we aren’t writing. Mind you when we are writing we are miserable cranks as well, complaining about plots that don’t fit and characters we’ve grown to hate, but on some deep level inside we are happy we are writing. Why else would any of us agree to this whole NaNoWriMo thing in the first place? Walker Percy sums it up nicely “Who would want to live with a novelist? A man underfoot in the house all day? A man, moreover, subject to solitary funks and strange elations. If I were a woman, I’d prefer a traveling salesman.”

Excerpt:

“When the wagon and I hit the top of the lower loading dock, the brace that had held the right wheel dug in and started to drag, slowing us down a little while starting to turn the wagon so the back end started to fish tail. The sound of the scraping metal on the asphalt surface of the dock was jarring. The wagon was slowing. I could feel it, but it was no slowing enough. With a second loud thump we hit the edge of the lower loading dock, wagon and boy tumbled over the side towards the ground. I fell in slow motion, hurtling towards the earth, watching in horror as the ground rose to meet me. Somehow I was turned over so that my face was towards the sky - beautiful blue cloudless sky. As far as my eyes could see there was blue and nothing but blue to the outer horizon of my vision. Then came a dull thump. Then came the blackness.”

Day three and I’m still trying to get the groove going. Trying remind the muscles of the cerebrum that they can still remember how to do this.