The Writing Process

He sits at his computer and puts on his headphones (just to block out noise, he’s not listening to any music).

He looks at the screen for a while, looks at his keyboard; gnaws on the headphone cord, and then his face begins to animate with eagerness and anticipatory glee; he begins to shake his hands a little, kick his feet a little, and then the fingers start tapping at the keyboard.

Just when I’m sure he’s on a roll, he leaves his desk and wanders off to pace the entry way… toe walking back and forth, shaking his hands and now and then stopping to hop up and down.

I ask if he’s finished with his assignment, and he says “Oh yeah!  I forgot.”

And heads back to the desk.

Repeat 20 times, with additional interludes for lengthy tangential descriptions (verbal) of ideas only peripherally related to the topic of his writing assignment.