The Kiss

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  “Ryabovitch pulled the bed-clothes over his head, curled himself up in bed, and tried to gather together the floating images in his mind and to combine them into one whole. But nothing came of it. He soon fell asleep, and his last thought was that someone had caressed him and made him happy—that something extraordinary, foolish, but joyful and delightful, had come into his life. The thought did not leave him even in his sleep. When he woke up the sensations of oil on his neck and the chill of peppermint about his lips had gone, but joy flooded his heart just as the day before.” The Kiss By Anton Chekhov (1860–1904)

Ain’t No Such Thing as Writer’s Block

Ain’t no such thing as writer’s block, so stop pretending. There is so much to say, so much to put down on paper—there’s not enough time in a day to get it all down. The page is blank, all you need to do is fill it. Go ahead. Put it down. Pull the thoughts from your head and out of your heart and record them on paper. Or screen.

Consider what you have—all that knowledge, all that wisdom. You have opinions and thoughts. Sound them out. Test them, try them. Compare and contrast with what others have to say—but you can’t do it until you get it down. Sometimes ideas show how good or bad they are once they enter the realm of the objective. You know what I mean. Sure, you can sit there and contemplate all day long, but the moment you sound it out, get it out of your head it, you can often see it for what it is.

All those questions you have—you have questions, right? They are not difficult to ask, but asking good questions sometimes takes practice. Get them down. Put them on paper. Try to write out nothing but questions. After the first couple of dozen you may find a theme. Like sowing seed: nothing grows until you get it in the ground with a little water.

You might be surprised once you start writing with nothing in mind. You might find yourself going on and on and on, not able to stop because suddenly you have so much to say. Nobody has to read it. Write it and delete it. Tear it up. Burn it. But write it first.

What’s important to you?

How do you feel?

What’s on your mind?

Lookie there. Four whole paragraphs and I have nothing to say (but it sure felt good flexing the ol' writing muscle).

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