Page 3 | MediocreMan

When the Well Runs Dry · 24 May 2025

I am not sure, but I believe the writing well will never run dry.

I have surely had times when the idea well or writing well has been short of water. But I do not think that the well has ever run completely dry. Nor do I believe that it ever will. At least not as long as I keep writing. Not as long as I keep priming the pump.

Now, I know that people do not know much about pumps. They might know that you can get a pump, plug it in, and liquid will flow. Or they know about their water pump on their car. At least they do when it happens to go bad. But most people do not know about hand pumps. And they surely do not know about priming said hand pumps.

I must admit that I do not know how to prime a hand pump. All I know is that you need to do it. You need to pour water into a hand pump to get water out. Which is called priming the pump. For if you have a hand pump, you cannot just pump and pump and pump to get water. You need to pour water down the line and then pump. Then, you will get water from deep down in the earth. Aah. Fresh relief.

Writing is like that hand pump. The ideas are deep in the well. Or they may even be in a well that has water close to the surface. Either way, the ideas are there. And that well never runs dry. It is just that sometimes you need to prime the pump. Sometimes you need to write nonsense or shallow thoughts or terrible rhymes to get something good to come out of the well. Sometimes, you need to prime the pump to get the cool, clear, fresh water. You need to prime the pump with a journal entry to get that next idea to come through the pump.

I have been writing six days a week for many years now. I do not always write anything worthwhile. Even when I put said stuff on the internet. But I write and I publish. Even if it is just to prime the pump. Even if it is just to keep the ideas flowing. For I know that one day, something will stick. Some idea will be great, and I will write it. And maybe one person will read it.

I know that I will always be striving to become a mediocre man. And I know that I will keep writing and writing and writing. Even if nobody reads. Even if I never have a good idea. For I know that one day I will have a good idea. And that idea will turn into some piece of writing. And if that one reader gets something good out of that writing, I will be satisfied.

I might have said at the beginning of this piece that I was not sure, but I am now. I am sure that when it comes to writing, the well will never run dry.

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I Like Poetry Much · 17 May 2025

I missed National Poetry Month, but that is okay
I will just write a short poem, and be on my way
For rhyming is something that I like to do
I hope as you read this, you like it too.

I was thinking about writing and such
When behold I remembered, I like Poetry much
And though I’ve not oft on my blog spun a rhyme
I thought that it might now be a good time.

For I have missed Poetry as part of my life
‘Though in times past, Poetry came only in strife
Yes, Poetry came when my heart did despair
Poetry came when I needed her there.

But now Poetry comes when I just want to rhyme
Poetry comes just any old time
I need not a muse nor a disaster in life
I need not have sadness nor experience strife

For Poetry returned. She probably never left
I am so glad that my soul’s not bereft
Of the rhyme and the meter of glad Poetry
I am relieved to know, Poetry never left me.

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Writing Is Like Breathing · 10 May 2025

Writing is like breathing.

I have said, “Writing is like breathing,” many times in my blog posts. I even said once that I wrote about it. (Creativity on the Internet) But I have looked on my blog and I have never said more than a paragraph about why writing is like breathing. So I figured I ought to fix that.

We all know that we need to breathe to live. Our lungs fill with air, the oxygen in the air gets absorbed into our blood cells, which circulate through our body and give said oxygen to our other cells. Those same blood cells gather up carbon dioxide from said other cells and take it back to our lungs, where it somehow gets put back into gaseous form so our lungs can expel it out into the atmosphere. It is an intricate and beautiful process that can get fouled up by all sorts of complications, usually that we bring about by ourselves. (But that is another story.)

That process is similar to what writing is like for me.

Somehow there are ideas floating around in the universe. I like to think of it as The (Idea) Ether (which I did write about a few years ago). Ideas float around in that ether and all we need to do is capture them. And write them down. Writing them down is the key. And that is how writing is like breathing.

Let me explain.

Ideas float around in the Idea Ether (like the oxygen in the air). I somehow breathe in those ideas and they float around in my head (like the air going into my lungs). I then write down said ideas (like the transfer of oxygen to my cells), then they are mine. However, if I do not write down said ideas, they leak out of my mind and go back into the ether (like carbon dioxide going back to the lungs and then back into the surrounding air). Which is a shame. Unless, of course, I somehow breathe in the idea again.

If I use the ideas, they go out of my mind through a different path. They go out of my fingers onto the computer (or onto the page) and eventually, hopefully, go out into the real universe as a blog post, poem, book, song, video, or some other form of creation (again, like breathing out).

This other path is the preferred path. After all, I hate giving my ideas back to the ether. I hate losing ideas. Which does not happen much anymore. Or maybe it happens just as often as it used to, I just do not notice it as much. Ah well.

At any rate.

I truly look at writing as both a gift and as a necessary part of my life. For even though I could technically survive without writing, it is still like breathing to me. I still need to gather ideas from the ether, get them from my mind to the computer, and transfer them from my computer to the internet or the printed page (or both). It is a process like breathing. At least for me.

And now I am happy. I have finally written about why writing is like breathing.