A Blogger's Prayer

It has been said, and wisely, that the last thing a writer wants to do is write. This is a funny way of putting it: any writer knows that when the muse strikes there is no stopping the flow of ideas and words, as if we no longer exist ourselves except as a conduit for some higher power or function. We tap into that special zone and cannot stop until the muse lets go. Then we look over what we have done, and the real work begins, ug, editing. Still, the process is one we often try to avoid starting: OMG, a leaf fell, I cannot possibly write today! Did you say there was a Castle marathon? Starting when? How long – 48 hours? Get the popcorn, no, let me make it. William Goldman, novelist and screenwriter who gave us Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Princess Bride, once said (I am paraphrasing) that when it’s going badly, you could be in the most idyllic and quiet cottage by a pristine lake all by yourself, and the words still will not come. But when it’s going well, you can write in an elevator. Which prompts A BLOGGER’S PRAYER: To Whom It May Concern, who art in the ether, hallowed be thy muse. Thy elevators come, thine ideas be done. Give us this day our daily blog, and forgive us our procrastinations, as we forgive the put-off artist within us, and lead us not into writer’s block but deliver us from repetition, Amen.