Blogger's Block

Trying to overcome a severe case of writer's block, (or blogger's block, as the case may be) is difficult.  Interesting ideas sometimes strike easily, other times not so much.  My current case is all due to a gnat.  Yes, it's true, I got stuck on a blog post about a gnat.  This is why I am about three weeks overdue for a new post.  I have been opening forty2fit numerous times, editing, rewriting, and trying to come up with the perfect rhyming phrases.  You heard me right. Gnat poetry.  Seem silly?  Perhaps.  Until you know the full story. 

Gnats themselves aren't particularly interesting. I get that.  However, on one of the first "nice" spring day runs, I had the unfortunate experience of swallowing one.  Now, please understand that swallowing a gnat is not unheard of in the running world. Usually you can splutter and spit and rid yourself of the egregious inedible.  On this day, I was not so quick.  Chalk it up to the fact that we had been in a hard freeze for most of the winter and the prospect of gnats seemed like it was a faraway dream.  Chalk it up to not paying attention.  Chalk it up to heavy breathing with my mouth wide open.  Whatever the case, it happened swiftly and without warning. 

It was then that I thought of that poor little guy's gnat family and friends, clustered around each other (in the middle of a sidewalk, most likely) discussing his demise.  Or perhaps just wondering where the heck he had gone.  I decided he was definitely worth a blog post, but it didn't occur to me to write a poem until I sat down to compose. I should tell you that rhyming usually comes very easy to me.  I'm usually right there with a play on words, even when I'm trying too hard.  Poetry has proved to be easy until now.  And while there are plenty of words to rhyme with gnat, the the plot and clever ending of this particular ode became quite elusive over the span of the last month.  Maybe it's been so difficult because of the style I chose, or maybe it's because there isn't that much to it (I'm running, I breathe in, gnat flies in, I gross out).  Perhaps insisting on "clever" is asking too much for such a weak premise. 

At any rate, I will continue to edit until the post is ready. This may be just the motivation I need, since my vast readership of 6 or so will now be waiting with baited breathe to view the final outcome.  Hear me now, believe me later, this little gnat will not have given his life in vain. There will be a worthy memorial in the form of an ode that took months...ahem...er...weeks to perfect, captured on the internet for the world to see.  Just you wait.