charles barrow's writing

I struggle with similes, and metaphors. I mean I struggle to invent them. Whenever I'm writing a sentence, and I'm on a collision course with one or the other, when I know I'm going to need to invent one in the next 5 seconds, then I start to sweat. When I reach the point of no return, I usually drop a couple of question marks as place holders, in lieu of the magic metaphor, and then move on with the rest of the sentence, fully intending to return once I've given the problem some thought. So, no, they don't come naturally. It might take me hours, sometimes days, to think of one that I'm happy with. Often I never come up with anything, and then I'll go back and restructure a sentence so as to avoid the need. Occasionally, though, one will just pop into my head, like the simile in the header here, that I really like, and that I think is a cut above my usual standard. Unfortunately, this one occurred when I wasn't writing anything. So this is an orphan simi...

I recently tweeted a Dorothy Parker quote, 'I hate writing, but I love having written.' and I admitted agreeing with her sentiments, so I feel I should explain and qualify.  I have trouble sitting still. I can't sit through a film on TV without hitting the pause button several times and leaving the room on some mission or other. I'm restless by nature so sitting down for long periods in order to write is difficult for me. It's why I choose to write longhand, in pencil, in a notebook. I can move from chair to sofa and from living room to kitchen in a continuous round. When I get fidgety I move on. If I write at my computer then I'm confined to the kitchen table which becomes unbearable for me after an hour or so. This, of course, makes typing up what I've written in longhand an arduous chore. And when I'm faced with hour upon hour of re-writing and editing it's equally daunting. I should add that while I find the physical act of writing a challenge ...