Thursday, June 18, 2015

Distractions


I'm currently working on a short story that that's driving me bat-shit crazy and underscoring the reason so many writers are drawn to large quantities of alcohol. The part of my brain that has turned to bat guano longs to wallow in a vat of good Russian vodka. Fortunately, saner cells still prevail.
Sort of.
Instead of booze, I often indulge in math problems in an attempt to distract myself from the stalled story line, the underdeveloped characters, and perturbations that have no apparent resolution. Math problems are generally solvable, allowing me some sense of accomplishment. And the pay is comparable to writing short stories for publication.
I ran across the above problem in my files the other day and spent the better part of yesterday solving it in hopes the Universe might get the message. Obviously, each letter stands for a number and the object is to figure out what those letters are so the addition works out. Try it--I double dog dare you.

P.S. It's a lot easier to figure out than the plot of a good short story.