I sit and stare.

Words, screaming to be let loose. Frantic birds beating against the inside of my skull. There’s a story in there. I know there is. How do I get it out?

I start writing. Random words on the page. Nothing that makes sense. Ideas like circles, going round and round infinitely, but going nowhere.

I erase it all. I start again.

Ideas trapped in marble. Like Bruce Lee speaking on simplicity, I start “chiseling away at the inessentials until the truth of its creation is revealed”.

And end up with nothing but chunks of marble littering the page.

I erase it all again. Let’s try again.

An image in my mind’s eye. Motion, colour, action, presence, all combine into a vivid picture. I write down exactly what I see.

The words don’t do it justice. I edit, change, delete, add. And with each attempt, the picture fades, like a painting left too long to the mercy of the elements.

I wipe it once more.

I sit and stare.