PRIMING THE PUMP

"Get to the desk regularly.  The writers we admire...might be geniuses whose talents dwarf ours, but more often, the truth is that they are people who show up.  If you want to write, you must begin by beginning, continue by continuing, finish by finishing.  This is the great secret....Tell No One."  Jack Heffron

If I was thinking logically, this was not the ideal time for me to begin this blog - or my third novel.  I am in the middle of a move.  Every day seems to bring some new piece of paper that needs to be signed and faxed immediately...or notarized first...or the real estate agent calls and wants to show the house, etc.  We are not simply moving across town - we are moving to Pennsylvania...a big deal for me since I have lived in Virginia all my life.  But, I have learned that if I do not make myself put my ample-sized butt in front of the computer with my fingers on the keys - then I don't write.  This is not profound, I know - but it tends to be difficult. 

I can find a zillion other things that need attention - things I would not even think about unless I had made a commitment to write.  They clammer to the front of my mind...like the fact that I really need to clean out the hall closet, or perhaps I should go through the drawers in the desk in the front room and sort through the papers there...or, my personal favorite...I need to clean out the refrigerator.

I have some distant memory from my childhood of using an old water pump.  I can clearly recall lifting and lowering the handle and hearing gurgles and whines and hisses before the water gushed out, cool and clear.  I think writing something everyday is a lot like that.  I sit here - often with no clear idea of what I want to share in this little space - but slowly with gurgles, whines and hisses, the words start flowing and I am having a conversation on the page with you, my readers. 

And, once I have started, then I feel ready to move forward.  My creative self has been lifted from its lethargy and begins to spin and weave and dance its way through writing another chapter, or reworking a character.  I cannot wait for inspiration to fall on me like some divine force; I have to just start out on my own and trust that the muse will catch up and find me ready to work.