It’s funny how writing is sometimes free and flowing, and other times it’s like having all your teeth ripped out without any meds to deaden the pain.
Today is like the latter.
My eye is drawn to a white envelope upon which I scrawled these words: “You are not what you say you are, you are what you do.”
Writers write. Even when you don’t feel like it, even when every word feels as if you must carve them from a granite slab with a plastic spork.
I’m carving, I silently growl at myself.
As is usual with a long piece of writing, A Walk in Darkness has slowed way down. I went to the library yesterday to focus on my mind on my task.
When out of nowhere, an elderly man came over and made a series of calls. He was polite about it; he kept his voice low. When he was done, he stepped forward to apologize for interrupting me.
He hadn’t, but it was a nice gesture. We got started talking, and before long hours had passed. So much for my muse that lives in the library, or she whom I labeled ‘Library Goon #1.’
It was a nice visit, and I am honored that he chose to sit and talk to me. Come to find out, he was a doctor and traveled the world. We shared an interest in old authors and regaled each other with tales of our past. He was a good thirty years older than me and had lived a much more colorful life. I was entranced.
After several hours passed, I took my leave and went home. I tapped out a few pages last night, but for some reason, today is just one of those days.
Every word seems heavy, like wet gravel in a rucksack. Or a mislabeled set of dumbbells. Ah well, consistency is the key to success.
Besides, if you only write on the days when it feels good, are you really a writer? Champions are defined by overcoming obstacles, heroes are defined by overcoming their archenemy, and writers are defined by writing when it feels as if the world has crashed at their feet.
So, onward Buttercup! Forward to the next complete sentence, paragraph and page.
Best of luck to you all.
Freeman's Front Porch Musings 
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