Monday, February 3, 2014

What a Thrill

   After you've stared at something long enough for your eyes to cross, have you ever experienced a pulsating tick?  I'm sure you have.  But has that pulsating tick ever felt disgustingly pleasurable?  
   My therapist told me that taking pleasure from something that tortures me makes me a masochist.  
   Well, she used other words that sounded a lot more scientific and demeaning.  But, it works.
   I didn't have the heart to tell her that gluttony was my favorite sin.  I couldn't destroy her great hopes for me and my recovery.
   Yes, my recovery.  I torture myself, and I love it.  I stare and stare and stare, willing reality to pop out of my imagination.  But nothing happens.  I only experience a tick.  A small spasm inside my skull that I never want to end.
   I just look at the blank page.  And freeze.  All I want is words to pour out of me, and all I need is the tick.  Once it starts, I bury myself in it.  Time passes.  And I call it a night.
   My therapist and my editor want me to move on, but I need it.  I need the chemical imbalance.  I need the thrill.  
   Without it, I'm no more than a writer who is terrified to write.

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