“Procrastination makes the heart grow fonder” said no one, ever. I am a world class putter-offer which guarantees me a job paving that road to hell. Back at the end of summer, I planned all sorts of things to do with walnuts. We have several trees on the farm and I often forget to harvest any till it is too late. This year I had the best of intentions to harvest some of the green nuts and make my own Nocino Walnut Liqueur. That did not happen, but life provides. Won’t you please join me now, as we stand and make the Nocino Sour.
Writer’s block is real, y’all. Somedays the words just won’t come. You won’t even have an idea of where to go with the narrative or even what to make. I find that when this happens, you can best get past it by staring at the blank screen for awhile, quietly bearing the subtle taunt of the flashing cursor, till inspiration strikes. This can take some time. Once upon a time, I’d go outside, have a cigarette and stare off into the distance. That often works. You can almost always have a good idea about a third of the way through the smoke. This gives you enough time to forget that inspiration while you finish and return to your desk. So you find yourself back at the beginning, armed with the knowledge that you actually have ideas, you just can’t access them. Sometimes I just write a starter sentence, something like “Writer’s Block is real.” Then I add a “y’all” to make it feel more personal. A couple more lines describing the difficulty figuring out how to begin writing, maybe a longing look back at a former life and suddenly you are off to the part were you can legitimately say something about the drink you are going to make and get into the more formulaic portion of the text. So in the spirit of telling them exactly what you are doing, while you do it and getting away with it, won’t you join me now as we stand and make the Rum Walnut Alexander.
