Month: May 2023

Sentences add up

It’s funny how the little algorithms work. I had nothing to write for Wednesday’s blog, so I wrote just one sentence to keep my daily blogging streak alive, titled it “This is a sentence,” and went to bed.

It appeared dutifully Wednesday morning, and down at the bottom the algorithm, as usual, offered three “Related” posts: “Write the next sentence,” “Letters into words into sentences,” and “W.B.’s Book Report: Several Short Sentences About Writing.” All three of them had been more well-received than average, and all three were about writing more than one sentence and if — you’re stuck with nothing to say — how to write that next sentence.

Oh, I had great excuses. I had awakened at 3:15 a.m. Tuesday, I had put in my first 10-hour day at the day job in several weeks, I was dead on my feet (Technically, I was sitting, so I was dead on my tail) — I barely remember writing the one sentence.

That’s not really the point.

The point is that if you aspire to be a writer, if you present yourself as a writer, there is a certain truism to which you need to adhere. It’s easy to remember, just two words.

Writers write.

Now, I forgive myself for writing just the one sentence. I really was exhausted. I had written about 4,000 day-job words and even dashed off 200-300 Jeep Thompson words during the course of Tuesday, and I had helped to assemble more than 50 pages of newspaper to send to the printer. The blog was not the highest priority of the day.

Still, writers write, and I have set the blog as a daily priority. I made the commitment long enough ago to measure in years.

I forgive myself, but I don’t intend to do that again. Oh, all things come to an end, and one day so will my daily blog streak, but I plan never again to write one sentence and call it a blog post.

Unless its a really, really good sentence.

– – –

P.S. It has come to my attention that some of you have not yet obtained your free copy of the ebook Jeep Thompson & the Lost Prince of Venus: Episode 1: Journey to the Second Planet. This is the looonng-awaited opening salvo in an epic adventure of time, space, and other worlds. Jeep Thompson and her vampire friend, Blaine, live in a world not unlike our own — but not exactly ours; our world doesn’t have vampires, don’t you know — and they are plunged into an intrigue that starts with an odd vehicle under a tarp in her garage. Did I mention it’s free? You have nothing to lose and everything to gain — and how often do you get to read a novella with a 15-word title? Go on, click this link and start reading the adventures of Jeep Thompson.

This is a sentence

This is a sentence with no other purpose than to prevent a day from going by without a sentence appearing in this place.

That is all.

No, really.

Cardinal at the window

I first heard the story of the cardinals years ago at the memorial gathering for a mentor and his wife, who had died just a few months apart. The family distributed seed packets with cards telling how a cardinal is a visitor from heaven, a departed loved one letting you know everything is all right.

On the morning Red was scheduled to take her long ride from a Milwaukee hospital to a hospice near Green Bay, a cardinal hopped up to the patio door and peered inside — almost like someone I once knew wanting to make sure I was OK. A few days later there was a cardinal next to the door again. (Obviously the above photo was taken after he hopped a little farther away.)

Perhaps they’re old friends, or my mom or dad or brother, or my Willow The Best Dog There Was, but they are comforting. They help open the spigot and let out the grief, which gives me a few hours of precious productivity.

Three deer emerge from the woods and step carefully into the open field to our north. Dejah notices them and woofs rather frantically. “It’s OK, Dejah, they’re friends,” I say, but she pants indignantly — or is she panting with the desire to run out and play with them? I’m afraid the deer would not understand.

Like the cardinals at the patio door, these unexpected flashes of heart stopping beauty are a reminder that the world is still full of reasons to go on — and hope.