Seven Degrees Left of Center (Book) https://www.Writing.Com/main/profile.php/blog/dalericky I sit down every day. Same chair. Same keyboard. Coffee is usually in hand. From the outside, it probably looks like discipline. But showing up and getting something done are not the same thing. Lately, I have been very consistent about not finishing much. Some days, the words move. Some days they don't. And the strange part is, I still show up the same way either way. Same routine. Same intention. Same lukewarm coffee. It feels like a cycle. Show up...[Read Full Post] Fri, 10 Apr 2026 07:05:44 EDT https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1112926 https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1112926 This morning I'm thinking about energy. Not motivation. Not discipline. Just energy, and the fact that mine apparently has opinions about how it gets spent. Starting something new is a party. The idea is fresh, the scenes surprising, and my brain arrives early, brings snacks, and wants to stay all night. There's momentum in not knowing what's next. My brain loves that. It follows a new idea down a rabbit hole at two a.m. and calls it research. B...[Read Full Post] Mon, 06 Apr 2026 08:26:15 EDT https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1112542 https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1112542 This morning started with a different kind of energy. Not coffee energy. Not the âI slept okayâ kind either. This was that quiet buzz that shows up when you know someone has read your work. Really read it. Not skimmed. Not nodded along. Read it enough to have something to say about it. A good review. And Iâve been thinking about that word. Good. Because a good review doesnât mean the reviewer thinks my writing is good. Thatâs...[Read Full Post] Sat, 04 Apr 2026 08:01:42 EDT https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1112352 https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1112352 This is where the brain injury shows up. Not with fanfare. Just a quiet Thursday morning ambush where everything I was sure about yesterday has been misfiled. It's not like in movies. No dramatic music. No slow fade to black. It's more like someone went through my filing cabinet overnight, shuffled the papers, and hid the labels. The work is still there. The confidence I had about the work? Apparently, that was yesterday's joy. The specific tr...[Read Full Post] Thu, 02 Apr 2026 07:46:01 EDT https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1112158 https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1112158 Yes, that's spelled wrong. No, I'm not fixing it. Autocorrect already had its say. Yesterday, I sent a simple message. At least, I thought I did. The reply came back: "What...?" (Words removed for rating purposes.) That's never a good sign. So I checked what I actually sent. Not what I meant. What autocorrect decided I meant. We did not agree. Autocorrect doesn't just fix mistakes. It makes choices. Confiden...[Read Full Post] Sat, 28 Mar 2026 08:57:14 EDT https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1111723 https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1111723 The coffee hit faster than usual this morning. A thought showed up before the second sip. What does it cost me to write? Not the romantic answer. Not the "inspiration strikes" version. The real cost. It's not time. Not exactly. It's words. Bad ones. Wrong ones. Sentences that go nowhere, paragraphs that just keep the chair warm. Yesterday I wrote about 2,000 words. Only five hundred were any good. The other 1,500? ...[Read Full Post] Thu, 26 Mar 2026 08:34:48 EDT https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1111554 https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1111554 Morning coffee with generative AI is hilarious. Not because itâs funny. Because it tries too hard. Five and a half hours of sleep. Bad coffee. My fault. So naturally, I started talking to AI â not asking questions. Just talking. âThis coffee is bitter.â It responded like a concerned coworker. I said I should go back to bed and it explained why in three organized points. Thatâs when I knew I had made a mistake. AI doesnât just answer. It helps. Ag...[Read Full Post] Sun, 22 Mar 2026 08:28:43 EDT https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1111229 https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1111229 Good brain day. Not every day starts like that, so I notice when it does. Coffee, chair, screenâ and things just clicked. I didnât write anything new. Just editing. Tightening lines. Fixing small things that had been bugging me. Nothing big. But it felt like progress. Or at least the suggestion of it. Thatâs enough for today. Iâll take a good brain day when I get one. ...[Read Full Post] Fri, 20 Mar 2026 09:19:06 EDT https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1111092 https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1111092 This morning started with a thought. Iâm late. Kind of like that famous rabbitâ just without the urgency. Not dramatically late. Not âmissed a meetingâ late. Just late enough to feel like I shouldâve been here already. Coffee was brewing like it had been waiting on me. The chair didnât care. The keyboard didnât complain. But somewhere between the first sip and the first sentence, my brain had decided I was behind. Late for what, exactly? Iâm retired. ...[Read Full Post] Wed, 18 Mar 2026 08:41:51 EDT https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1110939 https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1110939 This morning started slow. Hell, most of my mornings start slow. The coffee is brewing, and my brain is doing that thing where it knows itâs supposed to be doing something, but nothing particularly useful is happening. Most mornings thereâs a moment like this when I sit down to write. The words are close, but theyâre not cooperating. It feels like something is building pressure behind the scenes. The best way I can describe it is a rubber band pulled tig...[Read Full Post] Mon, 16 Mar 2026 07:41:02 EDT https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1110770 https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/1110770