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Michelle Swisz

Here is this month's Drabble on plans for the holidays that involve pushing and pulling, written by Anonymous:

I wanted to go to Grandma's for the holidays. Christmas isn't Christmas without Grandma. Now that I've gone away to college, looking down from the plane upon my beloved home town, and watching holiday shoppers rush around at the last minute have become part of the new ritual. Until November, that is, when I met Bill. He calls me at least three times a day, and I can't breathe until he does. When he asked me to go home with him for Christmas dinner, I kind of said "Yes." If we're still together next year, though, we're going to Grandma's.

This month, I have been under the influence of . . . WRITER'S BLOCK!

So, I've come up with some crazy ideas, among which, I hope, one or more will help me (and maybe you, too).

When I start out to write, instead of pulling up a blank document to write in, I can pull up a copy of a short piece that I've written and that I like. Not one that I love—then I might feel as though I couldn't duplicate the fluke. I'll start out by modifying the piece—then I hope I can take off.

Schedule my session, say, for one hour before I have to leave for work or class. This way, I won't feel as though the weight of all the time in the world is upon me. And in the process, I might reconstruct the feeling of having a deadline.

When I do find myself enjoying a session, maybe even getting into the flow of it, then I would like to construct a habit of conducting my future sessions under the same conditions—an hour before I have to leave for somewhere, an hour before bed, before or after the morning or evening news, etc. One benefit to making a habit out of it is that I won't have that same feeling of, "But this isn't the best time," or "But I have to . . . take out the trash, call a friend, pay bills, . . ." It WILL be the right time, not only by decision and proclivity, but even by habit. I will be much more likely, therefore, to "feel like it."

Have a very short, do-able goal for each writing session. If I go beyond, wonderful. But short goals (come up with part of a physical description for the character Peter in the story "Wonder Writer") can be accomplished in one session. If I make it okay to accomplish a part of a complete description, then I'll not have a reason to flog myself and use my disappointment as an excuse to go have a hot chocolate instead.

Keep a stopwatch by the computer. Set it for five minutes, then set out to accomplish a goal I think will take about that long. Try to beat the clock while setting progressively larger goals. The point isn't to get faster; it's to be disappointed that time has run out.

Set my stopwatch for frequent breaks. That way, when I sit down at the computer, I won't feel as though in setting out to write, I'm depriving myself of ever having another hot chocolate, another drink of water, ever again.

Get another handheld voice recorder, so that I have two. When I write, keep them both by the computer. One is for transcribing what I previously recorded. The other is for recording what I'm thinking at the moment, in case I'm too distracted to get it out in writing. (One recorder would be enough, but the act of switching tapes would distract me too much.)

Make a checklist of all the things that constitute being ready to sit down and write: materials, refreshments, turn off ringer on phone, let the cat in or out, whatever it takes. Make my first goal is simply to follow the checklist.

If I need someone's cooperation to stay uninterrupted, then come up with a reward, such as extra attention, to give them when my session is over.

And now, changing the subject to the Drabble for March, let's write it on the topic of : What makes my friend (or parent, or a fictional person, etc.) unique?

The idea is to use specifics rather than generalities. We don't want adjectives like "nice," "beautiful," "generous," etc. To get across the uniqueness of individuals, tell a story about them that illustrates rather than declares what makes them who they are. Illustrate a television or literary character, for instance, or even your ideal mate. Or your ideal self. Or describe someone who really gets on your nerves, or whom you like despite yourself, or whom you absolutely cannot abide.

Remember to check the guidelines before submitting. In brief, Drabbles are 100 words exactly, excluding title. Submissions are due by the end of the 10th day after T-Zero: The Writer's E-Zine is sent out. Send your submissions to drabble@wvu.org. Send comments and questions, too!

Have a happy Valentine's Day! See you next time.

About the Author
Hello, and welcome to Drabbles. I'm Michelle, your Drabbles editor. I live south of San Francisco, with four spoiled cats, near the sea where I love to walk every day. I've tutored English in workshops, classrooms, and individually at San Jose State University, and have worked on the Fiction Panel here at Writers' Village. Comments and questions are always welcome!