This is a writing exercise. I will write what I know . . .
2 + 2 = 4
But I cannot keep writing 2 + 2 = 4.
“How about writing about what you do not know?”
I do not know why 2 + 2 = 4. What if we lived in a world where two plus two did not equal four? What else would be different about that world because two plus two did not equal four?
“I don’t know. It’s a subject for a future blog.”
The trick in any writing exercise is to keep the pencil moving over the paper.
“Pencil? Paper? What about writing using a keyboard?”
That may work for some, but I prefer using a pencil and paper. How much magic there is in moving a pencil over paper! I am taken back to when I was a child. I felt special using a pencil, whether it was to draw or write. That special feeling is always there when I use a pencil.
Sometimes I will compose words using a keyboard, but I do that rarely. I write the first draft with a pencil, and I revise what I have written when typing it using a computer.
Sharpening a pencil is a ritual for me when I am getting ready to write. It is also a signal to my muse to come.
“And does she come?”
Not always. Sometimes my muse watches from a distance, and giggles as I struggle to get the words out.
“Why does she do that?”
I asked her, and she said that it is good for me to write no matter what.
What an adventure! I never know where the writing will take me whether my muse inspires me, or I write without her. Even when I want the writing to go a certain way, it often takes me somewhere else.
Look at this blog. When I picked up the pencil, the only thing I had in my mind was the first sentence, “This is a writing exercise.” I had no idea that I would end up here.