What now?

What now, of words that won’t come?
Guilt, shame, condemnation washed clean in the flood of grace; All ideation and creative inspiration washed away as well.
Ctrl, Alt Dlt – hard-drive cleaned out.
What of that desire to move the world to joy… or pain?
Close my eyes. Breathe deeply.
Cut wood, fill water.
Do the work. Write for discipline.
Believe. It will come.
If it doesn’t, rest in the grace.
Maybe, the words are all gone.
Maybe, it simply is a time to listen. To listen now, forever.
Maybe, the best of what I had to say is said.

Never ever...

I, have, for the most part forgotten how to write.
So, in a moment of self-acrimonious ball-busting I revisited some rules I made for myself, back in the day.
Some of them are gems:
1) Never ever start a copy with a quote, song or poem. Nobody needs to know how well-honed your cultural sensibilities are.
2) Never ever do a story on the phone; or worse, by email. The odd quote, the HQ statement, ok… but the story, get out and meet the people.
3) Never ever use clichés to dress up facts.
4) Never ever stop writing.

Word limit

After ages I have been called upon to write something for the paper that employs me. I would let management know that writing is my forte, but then, they would expect me to write often. And writing for a newspaper involves legwork.
I’m done with legwork. At least when it involves my own. However, when I have the opportunity to be nasty in print, I write.
The problem with this latest piece is, I have to write 2,000 words. And I’m struggling. Not because I don’t have enough to say. But, because I can say it in 99 words.

As long as an espresso

You know you’re on to something when you have that tingling sensation at the nape of your spine. I had that with 99. While I might have collared a dear friend and my sister into visiting regularly, I don’t know how many others stop by. Nevertheless, 99 seemed unique … until I stumbledupon espressostories.com.
Somebody beat me to the idea of brevity being the hallmark of writing on the net. I thought saying it in 99 words was uber cool for net-writing. These guys say it in 25, about the time it takes to finish an espresso. Check them out.