alex noble
May 2008 
NOTES: Learning to Write
Posted on May 29th, 2008
by 
AlexNoble
AlexNoble
In spite of all the writing I have done, I always feel as though I am still learning to write. Always the blank sheet of paper, like a vast open desert... Always the haunting fear that says I have nothing more to say. Always the hesitancy to just jump in and start the flow of words: a dream, an encounter, a moment of beauty, a concern, a special joy, or just a haiku moment in nature. So I wait. And if I wait long enough, patient as a fisherman casting his line into the deep blue, words will float to the surface of consciousness, at first shadowy and indistinct, then I see their shapes, and then I can catch them, one at a time. When new friends ask the inevitable question, "What do you do?" I gather my courage and reply:"I am a writer." Then, of course, they brighten up (everyone it seems wants to write these days) and ask: "What do you write?" And I gather more courage and answer:"Very short paragraphs. I am a very short paragraph writer."
Alex Noble
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