My friend Brian Yansky has a post today about inspiration and showing up for your writing. I read Brian’s blog regularly because, well, he’s the one who got me into this blogging semi-regularly business. There we were, standing at some party, chatting and somehow the conversation tripped into blogging and he said something like, “Yeah, I maybe post two or three times a week. You know, thoughts about writing. It’s good. It keeps you thinking about what you’re doing, why you’re doing it.”

Hmmm…

So I began tap, tap, tapping away in my little corner of the cyber-wilderness. And mostly, he’s right. These posts give us a chance to reflect on the craft and the life of writing.

The question is why do it in a public format? Why add to the huge tumble of churning bytes already threatening to crush us with TMI (too much information)?

For the same reason we show up everyday at the blank paper/screen. We have a story. We have a view that is unique, that might make a difference to one speck in the huge milky way of people out there.

Today I am showing up for my young adult story. (Yes, last week I handed in my middle grade novel to my critique group for a literary bone scan. Nervous teeth gnashing. How bad is it, doctor?) I know who the characters are. I even know what the story is about. But writing can be elusive and slippery. Even though I know all of those things, I still have to tell myself the story. I have still have to write wide to go deep. I still have to show up so that wee light of inspiration can show me the heart of the story. I am on my third draft of this story. I am getting closer. Sometimes when I tap out a page, I wonder, “Will this bit stay in?” I hope so but I don’t know. I won’t know until I get to the end. Then I can look and see if the effect is there. This may seem like the long way around the barn to write a short story but its the way I have to do it. I am glad to know that Brian is over there doing the same thing.