Writers of any experience and background will likely recognize the inspiration of this post’s title: “Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.” It’s been attributed to various writers, the most common one being Gene Fowler. Whoever wrote it did a remarkable job describing the daily life and death of the writer.

But hey, six pages today!! Woo hoo! And unlike yesterday, these six pages were pure drivel. I mean, I wouldn’t feed them to my dog. But what the hell — that’s six pages more than yesterday! My hope is that, when I re-read them tomorrow, they’ll sound a lot better than they do today.

I follow a number of blogs — far too many for me to ever catch up, RSS or no — and am constantly amazed at the output of a lot of writers and artists out there. I’ve seen plenty on the Absolute Write forums who juggle a family, a pet or two, a novel series, paid freelance writing assignments, a nonfiction book, speaking engagements, and probably the national debt of a few foreign countries on the side. And they still manage to find time to post on the bloody forum! How do they do it? What’s their secret? Caffeine? A retinue of household servants? Medication? I’m longing to find out.

One blog I follow sporadically is that of the mixed media artist Traci Bautista. Her blog and Web site are beautiful but exhausting. Does the girl sleep? Eat? Indulge in chocolate now and then? Inquiring minds want to know. In the meantime I try to glean inspiration from her and others. She’s an amazing creative force.

In the meantime, I remain focused on my writing goals for 2007. I was able to make a nice little dent in the play yesterday afternoon. Haven’t written the actual script yet, but I’m almost done with the backstory, which itself is probably going to end up being longer than the play. I think I’m definitely going to stick to two characters for now, as that’s all I can handle at the moment. Unlike the novel, I aim to make this one as tight as possible, with me retaining full control over the characters. In my novel, the characters all seem to be developing minds of their own, which is both surprising and rather nice, but in a short play, there’s really no room for meandering. No Delirious for me.

Also, my next column came out in the local paper today, earlier than I expected (lately the editor’s been publishing them on Thursdays or Fridays). It’s my most critical one yet, and given the conservative leanings of this town, I expect to hear from a few people. The last email I received was long and quite vociferous in her criticism. I would have responded except for one thing: she never read beyond the first line.

Ooooooo… check out this gorgeous Web site: Bossa Ever Nova. Follow the little red dots and feast your eyes on some classy graphics while your ears get a musical treat.

MRA