The Next Stage

I love it when I visit someone who knows how to play the piano. Eventually, when they feel like it, they'll go over to the keyboard and start to play. They're just fooling around and they're relaxed and they are awesome.

Same when a guitarist starts to strums his guitar or when Maureen Rich picks up her ukelele.

She knows what she's doing. Anytime I'm in the presence of anyone who knows what they're doing, I get that temporary sensation that I know what I'm doing because somehow or other I have wandered into the presence of someone who knows what they're doing.

This is called appreciation.

I'm starting to get the feeling that I know what I'm doing when I sit down to write something. I was first published 50 years ago and I've been pounding the keyboard ever since. I don't know precisely what's going to happen when I sit down but I am growing more and more comfortab;e with the probability that whatever emerges will be worth reading by someone somewhere and they will get the same feeling of realization that I'm getting right now when something that didn't exist ten minutes ago starts to take form and gather itself upon shakey legs.

It's that feeling that something worthwhile is going to happen every time I sit down when I'm in this state of mind and my fingertps are moving in synch with my creative impulse, past experience and desire to concentrate.To forget about everything except the keyboard and the enjoyment that I get from wandering in this land unknown which becomes more familiar to me with every key stroke.

It's as if the stage is set and the actors are ready to begin the play. All the performers are experienced and the members of the orchestra know how to play their instruments. The lights go on and suddenly ssomething like this appears to the surprise and delight of all.

Unlike the play or the music, these words will stick around in a form more concrete than pleasant memory. They become available to anyone who enjoys reading about a writer writing and gets pleasure not only from absorbing the process  but also from the end result of the process which is exactly like this and provides an invitation if not an inspiration to create in kind.

There's no time like the present to project and present yourself.

The next stage is waiting.