While My iPhone Gently Cheeps

Theme song: While My Guitar Gently Weeps

While I was lying on the floor, *drooling, after two or so hours of sleep and a day that started at 5:45 a.m., and struggling with writer's block, I forced myself to write three pages of random just anything. It's one of those tried and true writerly techniques I use to Break the Block.

While I was doing that, my iPhone was gently cheeping.

I can tell you right now, the temptation was strong to stop writing the meaningless drivel I was writing and start looking at my phone. God knows it was probably my agent texting to say that movie rights had been purchased for my latest book -- and don't give me any of that What agent? What book? nonsense. It's unnecessary and, besides, it will only serve to break my rhythm.

I, in any case, resisted the temptation. I stayed, as it were, strong.

One thing I've learned, as a professional writer, is that you can't write and read texts from your agent at the exact. same. time. Nope. It's one or the other, folks.

I kept writing while my iPhone was gently cheeping.

That made me think of the Beatles. So I did what anyone in my position would do. First, using the world's second largest search engine (YouTube) I found the video, above. I listened. I liked. And I felt hopeful that maybe writer's block was coming to an end and getting it done was coming to a start.

Inspired, I used the world's first largest search engine (Google) and found a Wikipedia article about the song.

That, my friends, is how I found out that the song was inspired by the Book of Changes.

I love the Book of Changes. I consult it regularly and for every sort of difficulty.

The Book of Changes is an ancient Chinese divination system based on Taoism. Love Taoism. Simple. Practically incontrovertible.

Drool happens. That sort of thing.

If we study nature, and I'm talking about the epic kind, not the drooling kind, we find clues about how life works.

Instead of responding to my iPhone's cheep, I stayed in the flow and not only inspiration but resolution, as well, happened.

I went from drool to done. Thank goodness (on two hours of sleep I couldn't ask for more).

Still my iPhone gently cheeps.

Your Turn

What happens when you let your iPhone gently cheep? Or do you?

*This drooling part is not so much an exaggeration meant to add drama as an outright lie. I rarely, if ever, drool. It's just not part of who I am or what I do. It's not that I don't have my fair share of embarrassing bodily functions. I do. Drooling, evocative though it is, just isn't one of them. Friends, I was mentally drooling. Drooling on the inside, where it really counts.