10:16am Friday
Saint Paul, Minnesota
“What’s the hardest part about writing?” I ask Ruby.
“I don’t know…”
She’s eleven. And this morning, she’s picking up a short story that she’s been writing, on and off, for a few months.
“Maybe getting the pieces to fit together?”
I nod.
“Or… Writer’s block,” she says.
A minute passes.
“I know two ways to beat writer’s block,” I say.
She looks up.
“Research, so you have things spilling out of you…
“Or just start writing.”
She raises an eyebrow.
“That does not work. Trust me. I end up writing a totally different story.”
I turn back to my computer.
“What are you smiling at?”
“Well, it does work,” I say. “It gets you moving. You can always change what you wrote, or go in a new direction.”
“Yeah… I guess so,” she says.