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Build Your Writing Muscles

Now I can write a column in four hours.

"Writing is like a muscle, honey." Judith always called me honey, and her voice was warm like cinnamon tea. "The more you use the muscle, the stronger you get; the more you can write. Write in the mornings, honey. When you first wake up."

She called me that day because in our e-mail conversations I mentioned that I was stuck on a TV article, about 200 words short.

Her advice worked. My first column took me a week to write. A 400-word opening story followed by 10 capsules of 100 words each: 1200 to 1400 words total. I stopped and started again, edited and revised, and seven days later I was finished.

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Now I can write one in four hours.

I write in the mornings. With a mind still frizzy from sleep and slowly popping alive with the help of coffee, I sit and write. Every morning. A short story about a dog and a bird on the sidewalk. An observation of a pregnant teen girl struggling to get aboard a bus. All crap. All of it. Stuff you'd conscript to the bottom drawer if not the bottom of a ravine.

But I talked with the page, and the conversations came easier.

I talked with Judith on the phone, and our conversations came harder. I didn't know she was dying of cancer and the treatments were causing her great grief. She never told me she was sick.

"Would you please let me finish what I was saying," Judith snapped during our last talk.

"Yes. Of course. I apologize, Judith. Go ahead. Wait. Judith?" I interrupted again.

"Yes, honey," cinnamon tea.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, honey. You know...I'm going to be just fine."

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"Writing is like a muscle, honey." Judith always called me honey, and her voice was warm like cinnamon tea. "The more you use the muscle, the stronger you get; the more you can write. Write in the mornings, honey. When you first wake up."

She called me that day because in our e-mail conversations I mentioned that I was stuck on a TV article, about 200 words short.

Her advice worked. My first column took me a week to write. A 400-word opening story followed by 10 capsules of 100 words each: 1200 to 1400 words total. I stopped and started again, edited and revised, and seven days later I was finished.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Now I can write one in four hours.

I write in the mornings. With a mind still frizzy from sleep and slowly popping alive with the help of coffee, I sit and write. Every morning. A short story about a dog and a bird on the sidewalk. An observation of a pregnant teen girl struggling to get aboard a bus. All crap. All of it. Stuff you'd conscript to the bottom drawer if not the bottom of a ravine.

But I talked with the page, and the conversations came easier.

I talked with Judith on the phone, and our conversations came harder. I didn't know she was dying of cancer and the treatments were causing her great grief. She never told me she was sick.

"Would you please let me finish what I was saying," Judith snapped during our last talk.

"Yes. Of course. I apologize, Judith. Go ahead. Wait. Judith?" I interrupted again.

"Yes, honey," cinnamon tea.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, honey. You know...I'm going to be just fine."

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Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Jayson Napolitano’s Scarlet Moon releases third Halloween album

Latest effort has the most local vibe
Next Article

The Fellini of Clairemont High

When gang showers were standard for gym class
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