"How much paint do you use?"

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I can still remember my first experience sitting down with a canvas and paints in front of me. It was in an elementary school art class. The teacher told me to sit down and paint a bowl of fruit on a stand at the head of the class. So there I sat with a blank canvas, lots of colorful paints, and a bowl of fruit. I just sat there, paralyzed; afraid to put paint on the canvas for fear of messing it up.

I remembered that experience when a budding author recently asked me about writing, specifically writer’s block. "How do you overcome it?" she asked.

"I do two things," I told her. "First, I sit down. Second, I type a word, followed by another word, and pretty soon, a story emerges from the words. Now you can change that first word later, but you’ve got to open your heart and head and get that first word out."

Danny Kaye, the entertainer, said once, "Life is a great big canvas; throw all the paint on it you can."

Remember: good enough is good enough. So just get started throwing paint and writing words as you make a life.

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