block and blue

All day today I've been dealing with a horrendous case of writer's block.

I don't normally get blocked when I'm writing standardized test content, but then, I don't usually get asked to write prose fiction as content.

Usually when I have to create a passage, I mine my expository writings from college -- of which there are plenty, with far more than enough words, heh -- or even Jim's. But fiction? Fiction isn't hard to understand. (Riiiiight.) Test passages are supposed to be dry, boring pieces of social science analysis. Not fiction.

I mean, are they serious?

Apparently, they are. That doesn't change the fact that I don't have all that much fiction to reshape and edit into test content. Instead, I'll actually have to belly up to the bar and, oh, I don't know, write something from scratch.

So, since I clearly have far more work to do on this one assignment than usual, it makes sense that all I've been doing is sitting here, compulsively reading blogs and fretting over what to pack to take to Hilton Head tomorrow (clearly, not sweaters).

Finally -- finally! -- I had a breakthrough. I knew what I was going to write, and how to write it. I hit the groove.

And Microsoft Word crashed.

Someone up there is telling me something, don't you think? Fine, gods of technology. I yield. I know that the last time I wrote a lot of fiction I did it the old-fashioned way, and apparently my attempt to update that system offends your sensibilities. So I'll do whatever you ask of me. I'll sacrifice to the pen and paper demons and stab myself with graphite. Just let me get this damn passage written already, will you?