Shelf by shelf

A couple of months ago, I thought, I should clean the refrigerator. Should, it terms out, is not a word that motivates me. But after a couple weeks, that should became a want: I want to clean the refrigerator, I thought one day.

It took several more weeks for that want to become action. Finally I opened the fridge and stared in, thinking of the millions of meals I'd cooked from its contents. I started emptying a shelf and felt the overwhelm creep in--a mammoth, unpleasant task, this fridge cleaning. And suddenly I understood that day I was only going to clean one shelf. I wiped and scrubbed. I admired my work and then I put the food back. I'll clean the others when I'm ready, I thought, and closed the door.

I find large tasks especially daunting these days, including writing. To say I am writing a novel feels presumptuous and like an invitation for disaster, as if some listening demon might hear and decide to curse me. Instead I say to myself, I'm just going to write a sentence. And then I write one sentence. Or two, or three. But never a whole lot more than that.

So far I'm halfway through cleaning the fridge. I'll get there. Shelf by shelf. Bird by bird. Word by word.

Writing through Crisis starts in October, and there will be more classes in a few weeks. Till then, I hope you have at least a little energy, enough to chip away at it, to sit for a few minutes and think about words, maybe write a few down. That's all you need.

J.