WRITE NOW OR FOREVER HOLD YOUR PEACE

‘Write now’ is what I hear every morning at 5, or sometimes 6:30.

Keeping a schedule is good; having something to say is good.

Why is joining them together so hard?

Some answers make sense, some don’t. Mine are . . .

Do you remember the big pencil and large sheet of brown paper with a dashed line between each solid line?

That’s how we learned to size upper and lower case letters in first grade. Hey Mrs. Baker.

Everyone was a writer in first grade, or on the way.

The magic began early.

We could scratch out letters in the correct progression quietly, then talk about it.

It opened a world of possibilities and secrets.

Secret code, secret notes, secret language.

The language part got straightened out by a bus driver when someone decided to say “flucker” on the way to school.

“You flucker, get out of my seat. Don’t be a dumb fluck.”

Somehow the driver knew what they were saying.

I grew up next to an older kid who shouldn’t have been playing with younger kids who looked up to him. Hey Roger.

He knew all the cuss words, had a set up in his house where you’d get shocked if you touched the refrigerator handle and stove at the same time, and knew how to win a rock fight.

He came in handy when we went to war with other kids who had older brothers.

One of his innovations was using a broken mirror to blind kids we faced off against in rock rights while the rest of us pelted them.

If there were ever a case to write now, this is it. The statute of limitations have long expired.

Write Now High School

Let’s say you took high school classes based on who else took them, like the girl you couldn’t live without.

If you took an English class that included writing a play, you adapted Romeo and Juliette hoping Miss Lovely would notice.

That you won an award for the play was secondary.

The motivation to write now, right then, was key.

You had something to say and someone to say it too. More or less.

So write more, and more, and more.

College Writing For Clarity

College professors from other departments do each other a favor when WR 121 and WR 323 saves them all from wading through the gibberish included in under-grad term papers.

Some students go off the deep end with classes like Poetry Writing, Technical Writing, Novel Writing.

What if a university offers degrees and advanced degrees in Creative Writing?

Do you sign up?

Or do you opt in for an amazing writing center in the community?

Look at fiction, nonfiction, and poetry to write now.

Or, the other thing.

The Other Thing Needed To Write Now

Like early learning with the big pencil and paper in first grade, writing is proof of being present and accounted for.

How important is that?

I lost my first job in the Army as a leader or men because I wouldn’t answer a question in the middle of the night during fire drill formation.

“4th PLATOON REPORT” echoed off the barracks.

I didn’t say anything when I was supposed to shout out an automatic, “ALL PRESENT AND ACCOUNTED FOR, SIR.”

I didn’t say anything because my people had problems running down stairs in the dark and fell.

My Drill Sergeant told me what to say. I explained the problem.

Turned out I was the problem for not toeing the line and going along to get along.

That was the start of walking around with a target on my boot camp back.

I take being present and accounted for seriously.

Either the target never left my back, or I’m an overly sensitive drama queen.

Either is a plus to write now.

If you feel like you’ve got something to say you can either stuff it down until the feeling goes away, or do something.

Why not take the walk of life and write it down?

He got the action, he got the motion
Oh yeah, the boy can play
Dedication, devotion
Turning all the night time into the day

And after all the violence and double talk
There’s just a song in all the trouble and the strife
You do the walk, yeah, you do the walk of life
Hmm, they do the walk of life