Conversations with Calliope

JOE: Good afternoon, Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good afternoon, Joe. What have you been up to all day?
JOE: A marker of getting older, I have to deal with choices about Medicare in preparation for turning 65 in January.
CALLIOPE: Is it as much of a pain as I hear it is?
JOE: Yes, it is. The choices are astounding. Each one seems to make sense in certain circumstances which are quite hard to predict.
CALLIOPE: I don't envy you. Any progress on the book.
JOE: Some. I have envisioned the next scene which involves the girl and boy of the family discussing their parents' difficulties.
CALLIOPE: Is the writing going easily?
JOE: No. I would say fitfully. Let me tell you a story. I lived with my grandparents until I was three. My grandfather and I would listen for the steam whistle telling us a train was coming into town. We would bundle into his car and drive to the end of Park Avenue to wait for it. The engine puffed smoke while the train let off passengers and packages and reloaded with both. When it was ready to go, the conductor signaled with his lantern to the engineer. At first nothing seemed to happen. Then CHUG...chu...chu...chu and the train would move a few inches. This process went on until the train started making some steady forward process. That's what this book feels like.
CALLIOPE: Very graphic. So building up a head of steam is a slow fitful process.
JOE: Yep. I'm still chugging. I can get some chunks of words on paper but then have to stop and think for a while to imagine the next scene.
CALLIOPE: How does that compare with your last book?
JOE: I wish I could tell you. With all the months that have gone by since I started it, I don't remember the process too clearly. I wouldn't be surprised if was just like this one.
CALLIOPE: Neither would I. Are you frustrated?
JOE: Not really, this is my fourth book and I know that with perseverence, I will finish this one too in its own time.
CALLIOPE: It sounds like you are starting to mature as a writer. Keep at it.
JOE: Thanks. I'll talk with you on Monday after I get back from New York.
CALLIOPE: I'll be waiting. It sounds like there might be a story in that as well.
JOE: I guess you will just have to wait to see.