I did get that all from a pencil. I used a brainstorming technique called “mapping” (and other things) where you write down a word and then write down everything that pops into your head related to any word on the paper. I wrote down “Write” and then two words branched off of that: “Create” and “Freedom”. As I kept going, I ended up with “Eraser” on the sheet immediately underneath “Freedom”.

I started writing the story at that point, not quite sure where it was going to go. I started with a prisoner because that’s pretty much the opposite of freedom. The memory twist didn’t actually occur to me until a little into the dialog (although I had already written that he didn’t remember his name).

The story was also influenced a bit by [Flowers for Algernon](http://www.danielkeyesauthor.com/algernon.html) — a much better story. Highly recommended.

I still don’t know what I’m going to do with “grunion”. Maybe a haiku… “Blank” has a ton of potential. Maybe there’s a novel there.

That was most disturbing. Especially since I actually feel like that most of the time these days. What were we just talking about?

Nicely done. And very sad.