Cleaver, Chapter 12, p. 161

A USB cable is a fine toddler toy. Soft outside, crunchy copper strands within, rectangular connector to fill with spit, pretty necklace for the doggie. I think it works, and at least you're consistent in your hi-tech chew toy theme. Your boy is the younest Treo owner I've ever known. But I don't understand his text messages... they all read like ma-ma... dad-da.... doggie... You need to work with him on his IM abbreviations.

So... Jerry Cleaver, Chapter 12, p. 161 - The Ticking Clock

I know you're like me in that you need a good fifteen minutes or so of psychological foreplay and at least a solid hour of genuine quiet to write anything substantial. I know how it goes.

But Cleaver offers some good tips... and you're already following his first (and most important) - you're doing a little bit... even just that little blog entry is enough to keep the mind clicking, juices flowing, a placeholder in your subconcious that says I'm going to be writing during this time, so get that frame of mind stuck right here every day.

Here's some of the other stuff he talks about in that chapter (my highlights):
- p. 170 he talks about doing "some drudgery" after your five minutes (or ten or fifteen, or whatever you're able to tweak out of your crazy life)... I like this idea... plan to sort some laundry or mow the lawn or something work-related that requires grunt work but very little mental effort (you're saying, yeah... like what...) but the idea of putting that little bit of time in and then staying in that mental zone while you move on to some drudgery, allowing your mind to continue, allowing the subconscious to keep writing in the background (like a "terminate, but stay resident" application...yeah, I'm still a geek)... I like it... I've done it... usually just walking the dog.
- p. 171 - "Two old writing rules are relevant here. The first is "Gently but always." The other is "Not a day without a line." 'nuff said.
- p. 181 - "The worst thing you can do in all of this is to not write and not make meaningful contact with your writing for an extended or not so extended period."
- p. 182 (***** AND YOU TURNED ME ON TO THIS AND NOW IT HAS BECOME CRITICAL FOR ME ****) "Do your thinking on the page........"

- Now, here's the coolest part.... the goosebumps part. My plan was to write out the highlights for you here... talk you down from the roof of the Fine Arts building... and then go back full circle to the last part of your post... a gentle reminder that you're absolutely right to focus on that third step... cuz ultimately, that's what it's all about. And you've been on target with that lately.

So here's the goosebumps... I'm thinking about what to write to wrap this up, and I look at the second to last page of that chapter, and God is right there, talking to us about the third step through Jerry Cleaver (little did he know)...


"What you can do is get in the way... The more you push it, the less you get, etc..... So, you don't train it. If anything, it trains you."