Dribbling Ink

I love to write, I really do; however, often I find myself unable to write a new blog entry or a short story. Don’t ask me about the creative process. I am the least qualified person (who attempts, as halfhearted as it may be, to write creatively) to answer that question. All I know is that it just happens—that was the first thought that popped into my head, but it isn’t necessarily true. Imagination may just happen (wait, does it?), but writing takes dedication and practice. You can imagine and write great pieces of literature in your head all day, which I do, but it’s useless unless you write it down. Right? I keep making all these statements only to question their validity. There is some worth to merely imagining things. For me, it’s the only way to stay sane and (cliché ahead) escape the real world. Of course, is that to assume what we imagine is somehow less real and important than the life we live? Anyway, the point is that I procrastinate. No, bad word choice. I am lazy. (I apol...

Not to get sentimental, but I was recently reminded of the joys of writing a blog. So, I logged into Dribbling Ink to see my past failed attempt at a blog. A number of things immediately struck me. My last post was dated Monday, December 1, 2008 , which was just a short video of the immediate celebration after the Miracle on Markham II. Seriously? I went an entire year without writing a single blog entry. Naturally, I asked myself what happened. The answer is simple. Life happened. I started blogging because I didn’t have anything better to do. I had just gotten married and moved to Arkadelphia, where I failed to find a job for a few months. Tell me a better way to waste your time than to write blogs that nobody reads? After Christmas I started graduate school at Henderson State University . During the fall, I began working as a graduate assistant in the HSU Writing Center . (I also spent a few torturous months as a substitute teacher.) Essentially, I didn’t have a reason to w...

Watch this before you read today’s blog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4GwrEuULwY Pause. Deep breath. Commend yourself for your (insert degree). Now you’re ready to read. I’ve never been the kind of guy to plan out my entire life. In fact, though I am organized and a little OCD about my living quarters, my future has never been something that I’ve bothered to give much though to…so I got a B.A. degree in English. Why? Well, because it’s what I enjoy: I love to read and I love to write. Isn’t that what life is about? Finding that something you love and exploiting it for all its worth? People used to ask me—they don’t now because the only organism I mingle with, besides a iguana that runs around in the halls, is my wife –“What are you going to do with that degree?” Then they’d smirk and drum their fingers on the table, thinking Checkmate! I always cringed at this question, because I didn’t know—I still don’t know—but I always had an answer: non-traditional teaching licensure…graduate...