Nose Hair and Writers Block.

TK sat at a picnic table in the park, and pen in his hand, and a notebook in front of him. He stared at the blank page, determined to write something on it, but at a complete loss as to what that something would be.

I hate writers block.

"Hey TP! Whatcha doing?"

"Hi Davis," TK replied without turning away from his contemplation and the blank page. "Not really doing anything, just trying to come up with something to write about."

"Like an article?" Davis asked, sitting opposite his friend.

"No, a story. I read this autobiography by this author, and he said that when he's trying to come up with something he just takes a random word and starts writing. He does mostly short stories, but I've read a few of them, and they're pretty good. I thought I'd give it a go."

"Sounds cool. Got any ideas yet?"

"No." TK sighed. Then he looked up at Davis. "I don't suppose you could give me a random word could you? Just something to get me started."

"Sure! How about…nose hair."

TK blinked. Then he stared for a few seconds. "Nose hair?" He said incredulously. "You can pick any word you know in any language you've ever heard of, and that's the best you can come up with?"

"What's wrong with it?" Davis asked defensively. "You asked for a random word and I gave you one!"

"You do know that 'nose hair' is two words right?"

Davis opened his mouth, then paused for a moment, then folded his arms and huffed. "Whatever. It's still random."

"Yeah, a little too random. I wouldn't even know what to write after that."

"How about…'Nose hair. That's the only thing I remember about my uncle'."

"…You're kidding right? Please tell me you're kidding."

"No, I'm serious! And I think I know a way to make it work too…"

"Well, maybe you should write it then."

"Well maybe I will!"

"Right, well, good luck with that." TK said, standing and picking up his note pad. "I'm gonna go get a random word from Kari."

"Fine, but you'll regret not using my idea!" Davis called as TK walked away. "My story's gonna be twice as good as yours!"

"Sure it is Davis!" TK called back. "Have fun writing it and make sure you show me when you're finished!" Why does he have to boast and brag all the time about stuff he can't really do? He probably won't even start writing, let alone finish.

TWO WEEKS LATER

TK set down the last page of the stack he's just spent the better part of two days reading. He couldn't believe Davis had actually done it. 'Safe at Last' the title read, and the first line of the story was 'Nose hair, that's the only thing I remember about my uncle.' Just like Davis had said. TK didn't know what shocked him more, the fact that Davis had written a story, or the fact that TK had enjoyed reading it.

"So what do you think?" Davis asked eagerly, seeing that the other boy was finished. "Ken helped with some of the editing and research and stuff, but all the ideas were mine, and I think it turned out ok." Then he frowned. "Although, I'm not sure if I got the ending right. It seemed like a good place to leave it, and Ken said it was all right, but…well, what do you think?"

TK stared at Davis, then down at the stack of paper that must have been at least a hundred pages thick, then back at Davis again before shaking his head. "As much as I hate to admit it, I think I agree with Ken. This…this is actually quite good. I had no idea you could write like this."

"Really?" Davis beamed happily, "You like it?"

TK smiled. "Yeah, I really do. The start really grabs your attention, the plot is well thought-out, and there is a nice amount of suspense with just a touch of humour in all the right places."

"Is it better than your story?"

TK blushed faintly. "Um, well, actually, I haven't started writing it yet. Turns out that Kari's random word wasn't much better than yours." He said, laughing a little, "Although, I guess that 'nose hair' wasn't such a bad idea after all."

"Why?" Davis asked curiously, "What was Kari's idea?"

"Pancakes."

"Pancakes?!"

"Yeah, then Tai suggested 'cheese'. I may have walked in on them arguing over what to have for lunch."

"So you still don't know what to write about?"

"Nope. I hate writers block."

"Yeah," Davis replied sympathetically. "It's annoying isn't it?"

TK turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "How would you know?" he asked "You managed to write a short novel in less than two weeks."

Davis shrugged. "I had writers block for a couple of days while I was writing. When I got to that bit about when they were exploring the house."

"Oh." TK said. Then in the hope of sounding slightly more intelligent he added, "I liked that part, especially when they found the cat."

"Thanks, I came up with the cat scene just after the writers block. I went to visit Kari and Miko jumped on me – it practically wrote itself!"

"Pity my visit to Kari didn't give me and bright ideas."

"Yeah, pancakes and cheese." He chuckled. Then he looked thoughtful for a moment, and his face brightened. "Hey! That gives me an idea for another story!" he opened his backpack and pulled out a note-pad, similar to the one TK had been contemplating two weeks prior. "It'll be about these siblings who are always arguing, maybe they're twins or something! And their parents finally decide they've had enough and…"

TK watched Davis scribble down some hasty notes as he rambled on. "I give up." He groaned.