down and out and gumballs

My mother once insisted on knowing how I could write day in and day out. I didn't really know how to explain it. It's sort of hard to explain writing to non-writers sometimes. Like the question: where so your ideas come from? How the hell do I know? They just come. They simple show up and say, howdy, how about you do something about me or I won't go away...

My best analogy for explanation to my mom was my mind is a gumball machine. And I truly do sort of see it that way. A gumball is always l...