Day One

The Process

I need this. I need the challenge.

A very special man and teacher brought me back to writing after a long absence and I want to acknowledge him first. Jim Hall. He died far too soon in his fifties, in 2008, after teaching me to stop analysing my writing before it even hits the paper. His favourite saying at the time was: "Writing is what happens when your pen and paper meet not in your head."

He believed in the magic of the self conscious to lead us to the best phrase, the best metaphor as if it were already full formed ready to be picked out.

He reinforced freewriting in me as the first essential step in any writing project and so I will freewrite for 15 minutes every day and from there see what happens. What comes up. And take it from there.

So here goes...

The Process

Process meat,
processed ham,
recycled in the metal can.
Detach the key,
unwind the top,
ride the corners - don't let it stop.
Let them out,
those words that stick
between cerebral cortex and
the pen.