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Recently a reader asked if I would write an article about how to write an article.....
I am just an old mechanic, a rural dweller, dog owner, and someone who likes trees. I own some Dodges and have talked to you about them, but I am not a writer. I am a person with a wish to see the sun rise, and hear wind in the white pines. I like Diet Pepsi and microwave popcorn, but I am not a writer.
What did I feel when I saw a groove in the cylinder wall as I looked up from below after having removed the oil pan? What did I feel when I found broken pieces of wrist pin retaining ring in the sludge in the bottom of the pan? What was I thinking as I was lying on the creeper, considering the ominous implications of all those discoveries?
The air was humid, the night was hot, and a cricket was crawling toward me. I reached for a bolt, the creeper moved, and the creeper wheel crushed the cricket. You and the cricket wonder if it was intentional. There were sounds, and moths fluttered around my shop light. I sweated.
Type — or write down — your stream of consciousness. Be true to it as it comes out. Don't bother to try making it look good to someone else. It can't be any better than how you thought it. Simply capture the flow.
Start in the middle; start anywhere.
I am just an old mechanic, a rural dweller, dog owner, and someone who likes trees. I own some Dodges and have talked to you about them, but I am not a writer. I am a person with a wish to see the sun rise, and hear wind in the white pines. I like Diet Pepsi and microwave popcorn, but I am not a writer.
What did I feel when I saw a groove in the cylinder wall as I looked up from below after having removed the oil pan? What did I feel when I found broken pieces of wrist pin retaining ring in the sludge in the bottom of the pan? What was I thinking as I was lying on the creeper, considering the ominous implications of all those discoveries?
The air was humid, the night was hot, and a cricket was crawling toward me. I reached for a bolt, the creeper moved, and the creeper wheel crushed the cricket. You and the cricket wonder if it was intentional. There were sounds, and moths fluttered around my shop light. I sweated.
Type — or write down — your stream of consciousness. Be true to it as it comes out. Don't bother to try making it look good to someone else. It can't be any better than how you thought it. Simply capture the flow.
Start in the middle; start anywhere.