an object lesson

I was at Nick's trying to write, like I do Sundays, and out of desperation, because nothing is a better task master than a blank page you are stuck in front of, and I came up with the title The Mugshot of Dorian Gray. I liked it. I knew it was something I could do, and I quickly wrote the first couple sentences and they seemed good and then I did the dumb thing, the awful thing, I said outloud, "Damn, this thing is going to write itself."

Never say that.

It is akin to writer's blasphemey. Sneering at the god of grammar and tense.

After another 150 words the story stalled. It wasn't working. It was certainly not writing itself. Luckily I still liked the title so I tried it again from the Title and nothing else and I was able to get through it. I was able to beg forgiveness for such silly arrogance.

Here is the story.
http://www.fiction365.com/2013/01/the-mugshot-of-dorian-gray/