Square One

Seventeen days until the winter solstice. Hang on girl. Today the sun's out. Yes!!! That puts a piece of coal on the fireplace of my life. When my mother was a child, her hometown in England was always black with soot from burning coal everywhere. Some smart people got together and said, "Hey, this soot is bad, let's stop burning coal." And they did. And now my mother's little home town in England is a beautiful, clean place. Thank you smart people. My mom liked to tell that story.

So I've got this sucky virus, and I feel that kind of sore throat, achy, dizzy, just let me sleep, funky way one feels at such times. And because today it's hard to give a shit, I can't help thinking about how important giving a shit is for a writer. That quote from Paul Gallico keeps gnawing at me. About caring so much about the story you want to tell, and about the characters in it, that you write in a way that brings the reader along, caring, with you.

That's square one. Can't wait to get back to square one.

More later.