Come Saturday Mornin'

I'm staying at home with my friend .... to paraphrase an old song I love. It's a drizzly, grey day, just the sort to induce cocooning. The house is so quiet, at 11 AM; John is in his little Study Shack, enjoying his own private time for writing and organizing. We had a good earlyish brunch of pancakes and sausage and OJ; won't need lunch today! In the afternoon, my consort plans to work on transferring old music to new media (LP records and cassette tapes go to CD and then the shells get recycled). I must make a short run down to the village to the library and "Johnnie's Super" some time before 5 PM, but I plan to spend most of the afternoon doing writing exercises from my training manual for writing memoirs, "Courage & Craft" by Barbara Abercrombie. She offers a very useful home-course in "Writing Your Life Into Story" – and I'm beginning to do her Five Minute Exercises, which she uses in her classes. She throws out a topic; you take five minutes only, and just write, without stopping for contemplation or editing. It's easier than it sounds, because if you get stumped she suggests you just write "I'm stumped, why?" or anything else that comes from the subconscious to the paper (or monitor) until the creative juices lead you on to the end of the five minutes. I think it is right in line with the dictum that "the only way to be a writer is to write." I've tried about four or five of these exercises and it's surprising how much I can think of to say in that small period of time. But then I've always been excessively wordy, so it's a good thing that the next portion of Abercrombie's book deals with Editing. There, I ought to shine, as I am known as "The Slasher" in copyediting circles. The question remains whether I can be as brutal with myself as I've been with others. Stay tuned (I'll try to be honest!)