It’s not only writers who suffer creative blocks.

Recently I visited friends in the mountains of Maryland, an artists’ mecca. My host was a sculptor who works in wood. Ordinarily ideas come to him while he’s working or listening to music. But lately

he’s hit a dry patch, following some success, and was telling me about

the various words of wisdom he’s been offered by artists about courting

the muse.…

Ever check out your own kids’ My Space pages? I’ll bet their virtual personalities gave you a bit of a jolt.

But it’s not just Gen X and Gen Next’ers who talk funny online. Sensible middle-aged adults – maybe especially the sensible ones – seem to take on a barely recognizable persona when they stumble into a social networking site. Apparently, people get a

kick out of inventing offbeat versions of their ordinarily sober

selves.…

I’d read Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. I knew my first draft should be shitty.

It was. Three-quarters of the way through that effort, intoxicated with my prose and attending my first Edgar Symposium, I was certain I was a

mere three months away from The End. I had the gall to attempt pitching

that “novel,” I shudder to recall, to a number of commendably patient

agents.

Once again, it's Edgar time. Forever…