It's just like Brussels sprouts*

I am trying to dig out of a writing slump. Last night I gave myself an ultimatum: I wasn't getting up from the writing until I'd cranked out two pages. It's just like when a mom or grandma won't let the kids up from the table until they've eaten those Brussels sprouts (*or you can pick the green vegetable that you have the hardest time eating).

I took some advice from a writing friend -- change the scenery. Instead of sitting at home, staring at the same computer screen and the same paragraph where I've been stuck, I packed up pencil and paper and went to a coffeeshop. That was a good move since there was no TV, or computer games or dishes that I really should do at the coffeeshop to pull me from the writing.

What I wrote last night probably won't win any awards. It wasn't anything new either, but part of an on-going "exercise" to rewrite something I wrote in high school and see how it changes. (Lots, is the answer.) The important thing was I got all those Brussels sprouts down... I mean, all those words on paper.