As the train pulls away, a horrible screeching noise resounds throughout the area and the train moves sluggishly forward for the first mile. Finally, the engineer can take no more and stops the train and gets out to inspect the boxcars stretched out behind him. He discovers that the brakes on the last boxcar are locked.
Unable to fix the brakes, the engineer unhooks the last boxcar from the line, and calls it in. Once the problem is called in he tries to continue on his trip, only to find that the train, despite the locomotive engine straining at full power, doesn't move. The engineer knows that everything is working now, and there is even one less boxcar's worth of weight to pull since he unhooked the faulty car.
Here is where the question comes - what's the problem?
You know, when I started this blog, it was a step toward a goal for me. It wasn't the first step, and it isn't the last. Just one of many I have to take. I wanted to get used to three things.
First, I wanted to get used to writing everyday. I wanted to force myself to write whether I had a strong desire to do it or not. I know that with my upcoming webcomic, I'll have to write everyday, and I need to push through blocks, both mental and life-wise, that I'll have to write whether I feel like it or not, and I'll have to write even when I don't think I have anything to say.
Second, I wanted to draw something everyday. My drawing time was terribly inconsistent. Some days I'd spend three or four hours drawing, and then I'd go a week without picking up a pencil. No good. Making myself put in the time each day is helping to establish a set schedule. I'll need that, for the webcomic, but also for my chalk art.
Third, I wanted to put myself out there by publishing, via the intertube, those drawings. You know why? Because it pains me, everyday, to do it.
Everyday?
Yes.
Every.
Day.
Why? Because I usually only show people the things I've put huge amounts of time and effort into, things that are decent. Cranking these out in a limited amount of time on a daily basis doesn't allow me to do that. As a result, I have to be okay with what I can do. There is an effort to improve, and hopefully it will slowly start to show, but the purpose of this exercise is to force myself to put the product out.
Again, this is for the webcomic. I may start out publishing only three days a week with it, but eventually I'd like to make it daily through the week. There are going to be days I'm just not happy with it, but I'm going to have to put it out there anyway. I guess the daily picture exercise is just to help de-sensitize me to the dread and regret of putting out something that isn't up to unachievable standards.
The blog isn't the only thing I'm doing to make myself better. There are a whole lot of things I won't bother going into right now. What they all have in common, though, is if you just look at them, they don't seem like much, but they are small steps toward building the momentum that I need to accomplish the big stuff later on. I start out slowly, adding a little more, and a little more, until I've got that momentum I need to handle the entire load.
Which, by the way, is the answer to the riddle. The reason the engine can't pull the boxcars, even though there is one less, is because it can't build the momentum it needs to do the job. When it backed into the train yard to pick up the boxcars, they were pushed together. When the engine pulled away, it wasn't pulling the entire line, just the first boxcar, until the hook up between the first and second car was taut. And, then, it wasn't just the engine pulling the two boxcars, it was the engine and the momentum from the first car already moving that pulled the second car forward. And, so on and so forth, all the way down the line.
When the brakes on the last car were locked, it pulled back on all the cars. When the engine stopped, the boxcars were all pulled taut thanks to the last car being dragged along. Even though he disconnected the last car, the rest of the cars were all stretched out, so when he tried to move forward, he was trying to move all of the cars at the same time, not pulling one at a time and building up the momentum needed before then next car was added.
All he needs to do is back up, pushing the cars together again, before getting on his way again.
Hmm... there is probably a lesson in that, too... but not for today.
I'll type at you later.
(Another request - Daredevil.)
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