MediocreMan

That Was Easy · 22 August 2026

I am not gonna brag, but sometimes writing is easy.

I wonder sometimes about people who complain about writing. Okay. I teach at a high school, so I wonder sometimes about students who complain about writing essays. Or poems. Or any writing for that matter. I wonder because I find that writing is easy. Okay. Not easy per se. But it is an activity that I have always enjoyed. Even when my English teachers were bleeding red ink on my papers. For that is how I got better.

I also wonder about people who say they would love to write, but never write. They wonder how it is that a person like me can put out book after book and blog post after blog post. And yet they can never get anything on the page. They often wonder what the secret is. Well, I am here to tell you that the only secret is to just write. Simple. Put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard or even lips to microphone. Write. That is the key to writing.

I know that sounds simple, but it is true. Ask any writer if writing is the secret and he or she will agree. You just gotta write. And write. And write some more. Then, you need to be critical of yourself and edit and edit and edit some more. Which is a different subject. Another story.

So what am I really saying? Not much. I just started out with a title and a first line that I wrote some time ago. And then, I just wrote. It is not how I usually work, but it works for me. I probably had some other thought in mind when I wrote the title and the first line, but… Okay. This time I did not. Not really. But there are times when I have an idea but do not have the time to write the whole post. So I write the title and the first line. Or the first line without the title. Or just the first line. Anyway. You get the picture. I get something down to remind me of my thought. The idea is that when I come back to the title or first line or both, I will remember what I was thinking about and write the blog post. Or the poem. Or the book. Or whatever.

Of course, it rarely happens that I remember exactly what I was thinking about. But that does not matter. I just come up with something else. I just write.

And of course, the more I write, the easier it is to write some more. Maybe not all in one day, but each day that I write, it gets a little easier. The topics may or may not come, but the words always do. I sit at the computer and words come out. And if my mind is blank, I just write anyway. Even to just say that my mind is blank. Which is, of course, why I do not believe in writer’s block. (Which is another story that I have written at least a couple times.)

Is writing always easy? For me it is. At least now. There was a time when I just wrote when I was inspired, but that was long ago. And it resulted in very few essays, poems, or song lyrics. And no books. Okay. I think I did write one book when I was just writing when I was inspired. But I never published that book. Or at least not yet. I suppose I ought to find it one day and put it out there. Hmm.

At any rate.

I suppose that people who do not like to write or people who like to sit in their favorite writing spot and lament writer’s block will not appreciate this blog post. And that is okay. After all, I lied at the beginning. I did not realize that I lied, but I did. Writing is not easy sometimes. Writing is usually easy. (I cannot say always because then, I would just need one counter example to disprove the notion. Ah well.) Oh. And truth be told, I did not mean to write two lies in the opening sentence. I guess I did brag, too.

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Her Piece of Pie · 15 August 2026

“It’s not what it looks like.”

Candace scoffs. “So what does it look like?”

“Uh…” Gary pauses. “Uh… Uh… Okay. Maybe it’s exactly what it looks like.”

Candace stands with her hands on her hips.

“Well, it looks like I am eating the last piece of strawberry cream pie. The one that you had a note on saying, ‘I am the last piece. I am Candace’s. Do NOT eat me! That goes especially for you, Gary!’ I really liked the personal note. And the all caps on ‘not.’ That was especially nice.”

Candace just glares at Gary.

“Okay. Let me explain, Sis.”

Candace continues glaring. She crosses her arms across her chest and thrusts her lower lip out.

“Yeah. Well, you see… Uh… I was scrounging around in the refrigerator for something to eat. You know, a midnight snack.”

“It’s six o’clock in the morning!”

“Yeah. Like I said, a midmorning snack.” Gary tries a smile, but gets no reaction. “Okay. So I was getting food. I set your piece of pie aside while I scrounged. You know. Just making sure that it was okay and everything. Then, I make a sandwich. Which was yummy, by the way. I am so glad that you’re the one who stocks the refrigerator. Anyway. So I’m putting everything back in the refrigerator when I look at your sad piece of pie. You know, it was sagging a bit. Leaking a bit. The bottom crust looked like it might be getting a bit soggy. It wasn’t out that long, but I thought that maybe I should clean it up a bit. You know, make sure that the crust doesn’t get any soggier.”

Candace has not moved, but Gary notices that her nostrils seem to be flaring and her breaths are heavier. Like she is trying to stay in control.

“Uh. So I peal back a bit of the plastic wrap and start moving some of the cream and strawberry juice away from the crust. You know, just using a fork to kind of move it away. Well, that doesn’t work very well, but I lick the fork. You know. To get some of that liquid. Not much, but it looked like it was going to help a bit. And it did. So I did some more. And that juice tasted so good.”

Candace is still doing the controlled breathing thing, and she starts tapping her foot.

Gary licks his lips which suddenly need the moisture. “Well, one thing led to another, and well… When I heard you coming down the stairs, I started wrapping up the rest of the piece. I thought maybe you’d think you ate a bite of it. Or a few bites of it. And well, you know the rest.”

Candace looks at the piece of pie Gary is holding out to her. Less than half of what she had is left. She screams, “Oh!”

“Ah, c’mon. Don’t call Mom.”

“It’s what I get for having siblings for roommates.”

“But you’re not gonna call Mom, right?”

[“It’s not what it looks like.”
Write a story which opens with this line.
DailyPrompt prompt submitted by BumbleBee]

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Just Throw Something Out There · 8 August 2026

I know that DailyPrompt is now my normal Plan B (and sometimes Plan A), but today I just wanted to throw something out there.

There are certainly times when I want to have a nice blog post but I have not quite gotten one ready, so I pull out a DailyPrompt piece that I enjoyed writing. I have a few to choose from these days. But when I do that, I have usually been on a roll and want to put one of those pieces on my blog. I have not been on a roll lately. At least not on DailyPrompt. I have either not been thrilled by the prompt or just not had the time or any number of other reasons (they might be excuses) to be on a DailyPrompt roll. Oh sure. I could have probably looked back on an earlier piece and pulled it out, but I thought I would go a different way today.

(The reason I need to go to Plan B (or is it C?) this week is because I had a plan for a different blog piece that just did not work out. I wanted to write something special that never came. At least not yet. But I am still hopeful. (Oh. By the way, sometimes I actually use DailyPrompt as Plan A because I like the piece so much.))

I am actually not fond of just throwing things out there. Really. I know it might seem like I often do, but I do not. I like to think things through and try to put out something worth reading. Really.

On the other hand, I actually have just thrown many blog posts out there. As my friend told me many years ago, “Just ship it.” So I do. I write something and put it out there. Even if it is not quite ready. After all, people will either love it or hate it or ignore it. It does not really matter. I have done what I set out to do. I have blogged. And that is what matters. Or at least that is what matters to me. Mostly.

You see, I do care about what I write, so pulling out Plan B or Plan C is not my ideal. Oh sure. I point to my own foibles and follies, which are now often just a dig at my writing, but I like to put out quality writing. Or at least what I think qualifies as quality writing. Sure. I do not have specific topics that I write about all the time. I mean, this is not a cooking blog or a specialty blog of any sort. I just write about life. I muse, or at least I like to think that I muse, about life. And when life does not give me a great blog post or when time runs out or when any number of factors rear their heads (ugly or not), then I go to plans B and C. And as you now know, Plan C is to just throw something out there.

Well, now that you know my process of blogging when I am not really ready to blog, you can determine for yourself whether I am using plan A, B, or C. Then again, the quality or topic or any number of aspects of my writing might confuse you. After all, it might appear to some readers (both real and imaginary) that Plan A is to just throw something out there.

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