Washington Post The Writing Life: "There's a mystery about creative writing, but it's a boring mystery unless you're interested in this one small animal, sometimes quite vicious, that makes its home in the bushes. It's a scruffy little thing with fleas and often smells of whatever nasty mess it's been rolling in. It can never be more than semi-domesticated and isn't exactly known for its loyalty." I have never been a big Stephen King fan -- I have never read one of his books, which must make me a minute minority in the first decade of the 21st century. But I respect him a lot as a writer because he has produced, because he writes because he has to, because it's his life force.

I chanced across this article on the Web by accident, but something made me read it. I have a hard time getting into this piece that appeared in the Book World section of the Sunday Post. But once I got passed the fourth paragraph, his message hit me square in the butt. And done with such deceptive ease and self-deprecating humor. I got up, hunted down the weekend's stack of newspapers, found the hard copy and clipped it. It will be hung on the wall above my computer monitor. Hopefully, I will remember its core of truth each day that I try to write.

I am not going to summarize King's ideas here; just check it out yourself if you are interested in being creative, writing, digging deep. At least, this glimpse of truth made me put together these few lines, and also start writing about some other ideas that had been nipping at my heels for weeks.

Labels: inspire