Why Having a Refrigerator Break Down on New Year’s Eve Is like Writing

1. Because you have to quickly salvage what’s good and pitch the rest.

2. Because it forces you to consider how you will preserve what is good.

3. Because the silence will give you a bit more space in which to hear the chatter in your head. That can be good--or scary.

4. Because you have to take a cooling off period from the idea of having a refrigerator. You must be willing to tolerate emptiness. Stores are closed.

5. Because once you finally get to the store, guess what? The model you want has to be shipped from Columbus. That means: More time to incubate ideas and keep them fresh (somehow)…That means: more waiting.

6. Because you will risk damage to your hands if you spend too much time handling ice, grasping your pen, or typing in awkward positions.

7. Because you can move from frenzied food storage (accumulating words) to giving food away for free (blogging), even if others don’t need more words. And you will wonder if the gifts of food or words are really appreciated--or people are just humoring you.

8. Because the man selling refrigerators will be as disinterested in your former refrigerator as most people are in your writing.

9. Because there is no discount. You will always put more into it than you will get out.

10. Because it will force you to do research, as in: How cold is a refrigerator, anyway? And: how hot are my ideas?