I am faced with a dilemma. It is already the fifth day of the month, and I have not written a thing; nor does the possibility present itself with any particular strength to my mind that I shall have anything good to write soon. Regular readers will note that in such cases I usually pull out a new installment of “Writer’s Block”. But that card can only be played once a month, and it simply will not do to begin a fresh month with an installment of “Writer’s Block”. That would be akin to Mr. Pickett having waved the white flag before he even began to charge at Gettysburg. We all know that Pickett’s Charge was ill-fated, as would be my attempt to find a solid idea. But there’s no place for early surrenders, no matter what the endeavor.
So that option is off the table, even though last month there was no installment of “Writer’s Block”, leaving me (technically) with the option of using it twice this month (or three times next month if this problem persists). It is happy for both of us that I have found a watertight alternative. I remembered that in May I wrote an article with the main heading “Random Ramblings”; in it I explained that I could not use the “Writer’s Block” excuse because I had written something in each of the couple days before that article (thus making it impossible for anyone to believe that I actually had writer’s block). Although the article I allude to was neither good nor notable (except perhaps for the ceiling tile that fell near me while I was in the act of writing) and does not deserve on its own merit to have a sequel, the title just screams to be used in a multi-volume format. And such shall be the case. I shall use it, and proceed to randomly ramble.
Readers who are gifted with common sense and the ability to cut through baloney like a butcher knife through melted butter will observe that I have merely rearranged deck chairs on the Titanic. They would protest that I have simply switched titles in an attempt to make people think I’m actually doing something different than I would be if “Writer’s Block” had been utilized. In all reality (they go on to explain with their characteristic bluntness), it makes no difference one way or the other – both the Titanic and this article have hit a fatal iceberg and are going down.
But such readers do not account for the possibility that in my random ramblings I may hit upon something salvageable – perhaps a stroke, almost, of genius. Such is not the case with “Writer’s Block”, which works on the assumption that I have a blockage in the creativity pipeline and am writing for the sake of writing. However, when I randomly ramble, I am searching for something that may stick. The outcomes may turn out to be the same, but they are not condemned to this fate from the outset.
And so I ramble. There are different kinds of rambling. You may ramble in audible conversation, like most politicians and some media figures do on a regular basis. Perhaps you may ramble in a traveling sense, in which case you wander aimlessly in an area because you have nothing better to do. I hope that literary rambling, my kind, strikes at the best of both of these worlds. It’s not as annoying as when you can actually hear someone rambling; in this case you can stop reading if you get annoyed. As with the second kind of rambling, you may come across something new and exciting in your travels – which hasn’t happened yet here. Time for a new paragraph.
I have not gotten to the bottom of my extended case of writer’s block. Maybe I have had other things than writing on my mind of late. Perhaps I have had no outside or inside inspiration. The fact remains that I used to be able to fire off several articles a week, whereas now I am stuck with trying to eke out several good articles a month. Maybe I had a glut of ideas when I began writing and have used them all up, in which case I must wait until more ideas percolate properly in my brain through life experiences. Whatever ends up happening, I am almost sure that I shall emerge out of this slump. I just have to come up to the surface every now and then to re-connect with my reading public, even if it’s in the form of a highly mixed-up article like this one. However, I won’t burden that public with any more of my ramblings right now – for unlike a politician, I like to think that I know when to cease and desist. The more I write, the more I realize that I am not going to stumble on a diamond in the rough just today. Another random ramble may prove more fruitful at a later date. As it stands now, I have done one thing useful – I have created a new series which may come in handy again in future situations like this one.
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