Every day, I write 1200 words to keep myself active. Here's a passage from today's work:
I have read that plateaus are often reached in learning, that periods
of achievement are often followed by periods of confusion, frustration,
directionless questing. This brings to mind a centipede that I watched
earlier this year: marching across the asphalt of the Gatineau Parkway,
it seemed unstoppable, mechanical, locked into the programs of
insentient purpose. Yet when the centipede arrived on the verge of the
grass, it paused, and began to twist its head and upper segments back
and forth, back and forth, uncertain of what to do next. In motion, it
seemed a mechanism; in doubt, it seemed alive.
I must remind myself that
human beings are often most alive, most aware, when routine breaks down
and the passage from day to day becomes a challenge. Here I am on the
verge of something new, and if I find myself casting about in confusion,
I can at least take heart in being alive with an urgency today that I
might not have noticed as keenly yesterday.
