My Thousand Strokes

I find myself in one of those eddies in the midst of swirling projects.  The overriding one is a 2/3 completed book that needs a) a fresh eye from my muse/editor and b) for me to step back and take a breather.  Too close to the trees…

But, writers write and following the guidance of my long ago artist pal who advised that he had to get in his ‘thousand strokes a day’ (although he was 60, a teacher and renowned), I write.  I write those neglected letters to friends, comment on blogs and add to my own blog as you witness me doing here.  Even e-mailing flexes the fingers and the gray matter in its own way.

I recently read an interview with a writer who said that writing is one of those activities where quantity leads to quality, i.e., the more you write, the better you get.  Of course the same can be said for practicing basketball, lifting weights, playing the piano and a few other activities I could name.  Nonetheless, the nubbin of truth stands.

I have a friend from high school (I’m 73) who has been working on one (1) script for over 30 years!  He refuses to write anything else.  He just keeps writing and rewriting this one script with expectations that it will be discovered and made into a blockbuster movie with an A-list cast.  Not a book, not a play, not a serialized story.  A major theatrical release or nothing.  That, to me, does not observe the spirit of the ‘thousand strokes’.

Anyhow, thanks for letting me use part of my thousand stroke therapy on you, dear reader.