Why do we scratch our heads when we can’t figure something out?
Are we simply buying time?
Signalling that we are clueless?
Or, do we think we’ll shake our brains a bit,
and the information we are looking for will fall out?
Here’s Daniel Holland’s fanciful description of his writing process.–JGR I’m good at getting the hooks and baiting the hooks. I’m frustrated though, once my line is in the water. I don’t yet know how to play the line so I can get the bites and catch the fish. There’s my line in the water, dangling,…
I always lie when I tell snow stories. You say you walked to school as a kid in two feet of snow. I say I walked in three feet of snow. Not only that–it was 20 degrees below zero. There were no bathrooms in sight, a lot of people around. I was pee-shy.
My sweetheart Daniel Holland in Northern California had a wonderful dream one night and was fortunate enough to remember it. This is an archtypal dream every performer, artist, and writer must know and face before putting work out in the world. –JRG In the dream I’m in the lion’s den with two lions. They are…
If I write about cavemen, do I need to go to a library? Or can I just say the caveman’s first two words? Fire. Wheel.
Should I write a story with big words that pays big money? Or, should I write this story that is worth only five cents but makes sense to me?
VACUUM SUCKS You know those little things in the carpet that try to hide? When you vacuum “hide and seek” becomes “hide and suck.” If you have a cheap vacuum, vacuuming becomes a hockey game. The goalie is under the mat. The cheaper the vacuum, the bigger the mat. As a kid I used to…
Now, that’s a good question! I never thought of that…I think it’s a sign that I need more time to think.
I think it is our brain, waking up from its big sleep, all tingly and not sure what direction to go in! Scratching gives it the stimulation to find the answer and gives the rest of us time to recover our wits.