A friend, teasing me, said, “You act as if they are the rules to live by, as though they apply to everything.”

I smiled. “Okay, let’s try it. Do they apply to sex?”

I stuck up my thumb for rule number one. “Keep your hand moving.” I nodded yes.

Index finger, rule number two. “Be specific.” I let out a yelp of glee. It was working.

Finger number three. “Lose control.” It was clear that sex and writing were the same thing.

Then, number four. “Don’t think,” I said. Yes, for sex, too, I nodded.

Wild Mind