The Island-Fish

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  “O ye passengers, whom may God preserve! come up quickly in to the ship, hasten to embark, and leave your merchandise, and flee with your lives, and save yourselves from destruction; for this apparent island, upon which ye are, is not really an island, but it is a great fish that hath become stationary in the midst of the sea, and the sand hath accumulated upon it, so that it hath become like an island, and trees have grown upon it since times of old; and when ye lighted the fire upon it, the fish felt the heat, and put itself in motion, and now it will descend with you into the sea, and ye will all be drowned: then seek for yourselves escape before destruction, and leave the merchandise.—The passengers, therefore, hearing the words of the master of the ship, hastened to go up into the vessel, leaving the merchandise, and their other goods, and their copper cooking-pots, and their fire-pots; and some reached the ship, and others reached it not. The island had moved, and descended...

Ain’t No Such Thing as Writer’s Block

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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).