Stephen King wrote a book, “On Writing,” that describes his journey from a creative kid to a struggling artist, to a force to be reckoned with, to an addict, to who he is today. In the book, he dismisses Writer’s Block as a copout, which I agree with. In the film“The Devil’s Advocate,” Al Pacino’s character asks a young lawyer of his skills, “I know you’re good, but can you summon it at will?”

            Oddly, this writing was about something, and it turned into something else. I started two days ago, and at a little past five in the morning, on Hump Day, it’s finally getting here.

            Initially, I reflected briefly on “The Man in the Iron Well,” which has been a work in progress for a while, but I feel the end is near. I’ve completed it once, going into a rewrite, and it feels good.

            The story begins with a man catching his wife in bed with her lover; a gun fires, and the lover dies. It’s an accident, but no one will believe how it happened, so they must hide the body, and in doing so, a murder is born. Tension between the two simmers, but they have to rely on one another. Inserted into all of this is a brilliant and most evil creature, so they also have her to deal with. And, of course, this being in the present day, issues arise, the fallout from being suspected of a crime in the digital age.

            But all the two have to do is dodge a murder charge.

            I was working on this during the blackout caused by the hurricane. I rewrote two sections, was happy with the work, and thought to myself, “You’re doing good if you can work under these conditions.

            Then yesterday, I went to the library to write during lunch, and a woman came in. The library is a beautiful, sprawling education center full of open spaces. Yet this woman had on so much perfume I was choking fifty feet away. Two young women at a table began coughing. I had to bail out.

Hubris, the thought I could write under any conditions at any time, catches up with me. No writer is as good as they hope. No writer is as bad as they fear. We simply are what we are, with whatever we are doing, and if it comes to something, then it is good, and if it only teaches us to write better, that is also enough.

Take Care,

Mike