This isn't really about Martin Luther King. Instead, with no malice toward the late Rev. Dr. King, the Solipsist would like to kvetch a bit about days off. Now, if any American figure is entitled to a holiday in his honor, certainly Dr. King is. And the Solipsist likes to sleep in as much as the next guy.
(Digression: Who is this "Next Guy" to whom everyone compares him/herself? How do we all know so much about him? Are we ever the Next Guy? End of Digression.)
The problem is that days off, even more than weekends, throw off one's mental equilibrium. One searches for inspiration, but without the regular chance encounters of a regular day, inspiration is hard to find. One checks the newspapers, but, by the time this one has overcome inertia and sat down to write, it's already 4:30--somehow, a comment on today's news feels already dated.
One could note the fact that 'kvetch' receives the red-underline of a potential misspelling and comment on the inherent anti-semitism of the Google Empire. That should be good for a couple of sentences.
The Solipsist could blame his readers for his lack of inspiration. After all, if he were getting more comments, maybe he would have more to respond to. You lazy curs!
No, no, he doesn't mean it. He loves you guys. All three of you. Really. Please don't leave.
What do you suppose it takes to get included in Blogger's "Blogs of Note"? Is there someone we could bribe? Do we have to agitate? Can one place one's own name into consideration? Has this post hit 500 words yet?
Stephen King has said that in order to become a good writer, the most important thing to do is write. He has compared writing to bodybuilding: If you lift a dumbbell 50 times a day, your arm WILL get stronger; similarly, if you write 500 words a day, you WILL become a better writer. Another FOS--a poet--put himself on a "poem-a-day" regime: He would write a poem a day (duh!)--good, bad, indifferent, or just plain awful. It didn't matter. The point was just to do the daily work.
So, the point of this entry is to demonstrate to any would-be writers out there that the only way to become a writer is to force yourself to do it. Chain yourself to your desk and bang out those words--good, bad, indifferent, or awful--before you declare yourself, in the words of (and with apologies to) today's honoree, "Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, I'm free at last!"
(500 words? Close enough.)
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