Thank you, Monica Wood

There's nothing quite as bad as anticipating a writing deadline with a blank computer screen and an equally blank mind.

As editor of a quarterly magazine for the John Thurman Historical Society, I struggle to put together four issues a year, combining stories from members, from archives, and from ideas I get in the middle of the night. Once in a while, when I'm really lucky, a story drops right in my lap.

I usually try to have themes picked out for at least two issues ahead, but this past December I suddenly realized that I had no plan for the March issue. Nothing. My mind was blank and I was paralyzed. I did a bit of hand-wringing, but not much else.

Then a faded old diary appeared in my mailbox, and the sender offered collateral material. As I started messing with it, I realized that there was even more related material in our archives, stories that would add new dimension to the found material. And now I find myself with too much material, and the pleasant problem of having to figure out what to use and what to cut or hold back for another issue.

I never would be in this position if I hadn't just STARTED.

I had allowed my lack of a plan to stall my motor, and sitting in the garage wasn't getting me anywhere. It wasn't until I just began working that I got my engine running again--sort of like rolling a car down a grade to jumpstart it. It reminded me of a quote by Ray Blount, Jr., found in Monica Wood's "The Pocket Muse: Ideas and Inspiration for Writing." Blount says, "I think writer's block is simply the dread that you are going to write something horrible." I believe that is true, for me, at least.

But Wood reminds, "Nobody has to see that first draft but you. You can eat it when you're done. You can make it into origami animals and decorate a table. You can dunk it in hot water, stir it up, mash it back into pulp. You can build a fire, line a birdcage, stuff a pillow.

"You can't do any of this, however, until you write the thing."

I should have that tattooed on my forehead! Thank you, Monica Wood.

Happy writing, all--
Perky