MONDAY 9-18-23 My Mantle Clock Stopped Yesterday (BTWriter Club 🔒)

You Don't Miss Your Water...

The clock I have had most of my life is a wind-up clock, about a seven-day clock. That means that once a week, at least, I need to use the brass key to wind up the clock spring that operates the mechanism. I usually do that on the weekend, being a creature of habit.

It seems that the clock has become the automatic reference point for any to-do list checking, any medication taking, or any TV viewing. In fact, without realizing it, that wonderful clock has become more the center of my world than I would like to admit.

Regular as clockwork is no exaggeration.

I try very hard to make my writing like that clock. I know I can overdo it, like winding the clock mechanism too tightly. It will only take nineteen half-turns of the key. I also cannot then move the hands backwards to set the correct time, because the mechanism can be harmed by this unnatural motion. There are several small items to remember to do to keep it running and keep my world working.

As I said, my writing is like that. If I don’t do it regularly, it can just wind down. The difference is that, unlike my seven-day clock, I need to write every day. I try to write first before I get bogged down in life, but it has to be done, early or late. Otherwise, my world starts to wobble as it spins.

This is not to say it’s a bad thing. Before I cultivated this habit, my writing was too hit-or-miss to be of value at all.