My students often talk about facing the blank page and not knowing what to say, not “feeling it.” I go on and on about how I make myself write for an hour, no matter what (and that’s qualified by days where chaos intervenes, and the weekends where mom doesn’t even try to write). Today I’ll give specifics about why and why and why. I could imagine not writing today. I’m in chronic pain and in a phase of “off meds” for rheumatoid arthritis.