Walking on Alligators, a book of Writers' Meditations by Susan Shaughnessy
Dang! Few books have had such an effect on me.

It was a book within a library of many books I was given for cleaning out a house. The folks had gone in way different directions~She had gone into deep Alzheimer's....He had died~the family picked through their possessions and left a library of gold behind, one of which was a book called Walking on Alligators.

So, I glanced at the first page and discovered it was also the first chapter. Yes, one of those books where each page is a chapter, thus 'meditations' .
But, it struck me in a peculiar way, and after reading through a dozen or so pages, I discovered that one could take the word writer and replace it with artist. Painting for writing. And I used the book in that manner since then. If I get stuck, blocked, bored, or lost in any facet of painting, I usually pull down that book and read it until I get out of whatever slump I've found myself, and go paint.
Just as strange, it works for musical composition. I think of myself as an amateur composer of sorts.
Funny thing, though.
I've caught myself using that same devil-may-care approach to other facets of my life.
If asked for an opinion, I give it. It falls away from my lips as easily as pollen onto a bee's knees (I've always wanted to use that phrase...)
When commenting at various blogs, same thing.
I generally just start writing and (hopefully inside a thousand characters) I write what I think about whatever was stated of the post. Sadly, though, I do suffer from on-and-onitis. I've been meaning to go to on-and-on-anon about the condition. But, since I haven't as of yet, my apologies for the longer comments.
And, even worse...I do tangent, sometimes.
I may start talking about the drive from LA to San Francisco, the road, how much it has improved, the scenery, the car, but then, out of the blue, I'll mention that banana store on the East side of the road. The one with the sign WAY up in the air, "BANANAS" it declares.
And what bananas! They have bananas that taste like a chocolate sundae. They have bananas that taste like peppermint. They even have a banana that tastes like a banana split all by itself!
....and, I'm doing it again, aren't I?

So, I really need to work on focus issues in the immediate future.
But, first, I'm going to go get a banana split.
You can still buy the book from half priced book stores. Buy a few. Trust me...you can give them to folks as presents, and if those people are real writers or artists or musicians or just bloggers? They'll love it!

Now...where did I put that chocolate sauce?